For Courage, Duty, and Honor
by BlackBox Inc
Summary: They all fought the Reaper War for different reason. Follow three N7s as they form a bond forged in the fires of war. Part One : Escape from Earth
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING!  
**This fanfiction may not be suitable for all audiences, viewer discretion is advised

Blackbox Incorporated presents…

A ReppinOrphanTears24 Production…

With special thanks to Bioware who owns everything in the Mass Effect Universe…

With special thanks to iBayne for the story Galaxy at War: N7  
and AXL999 and Andringo for their character submissions…

**FOR COURAGE, DUTY AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER ONE  
Part One:  
A Day Of Infamy**

**Vancouver Megacity  
United North American States  
Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

The bar that Irving Wolfe found himself in wasn't just a bar, it was a bar and grill. The difference was mainly due that it was both a bar and a restaurant. A place where a person could grab a beer and a burger if they so pleased. Mind you, it wasn't someplace you'd take your kids but it was still decent enough.

It was the fact that it held a running tap of almost any alcoholic beverage this side of the Mississippi that caught the Gunnery Chief's eye. He had only arrived scant twenty minutes ago and already three empty mugs sat before him. A half filled one was clutched firmly in his grip, eager to send him on the blissful road to inebriation.

After taking an adamant swig from his mug, Wolfe glanced over to see the bartender mildly flipping through the stations of the bar's only holo-vid. Every channel had at least three people either discussing the reasons behind the blackout of Batarian space and the surrounding Alliance territories or the massive energy signatures racing straight towards Earth.

High Command at Arcturus feared a possible batarian invasion and had called back all their special forces to earth for reassignment. The hype was a response to Commander Shepard allegedly destroying the Bahak Relay effectively killing over three hundred thousand batarian colonists on Aratoht.

When Irving first found out about that he had raised his glass to the first human SpecTre. In his eyes, batarians were evil, sadistic, malevolent bastards that raided and enslaved anything with a pulse. Only those who never had to secure a colony after a raid or had to endure a week long torture session defended the creatures. Even before humanity had entered the galactic stage, the other races were already drawing plans to deal with the _batarian situation_. They had everything going their way for so long and without reproach that when the law finally came a knocking, they closed down their embassy and in effect became a rogue state. Sure there were other reasons for their departure such as the entire Attican Traverse being slated for human expansion but the biggest reason was that they saw the other races of the galaxy as mere cattle and that cattle was beginning to fight back.

Irving Wolfe wouldn't go so far to say he was racist. One of the best soldiers he had ever met was a turian and the first real relationship he ever had was with an Asari. But he'd also admit that there was always going to be a level of mistrust between aliens. The other races were supposed to be superior and all-knowing, using technology light years beyond humanity. And yet when his species first made contact with another, they had fought them to a standstill. Humanity had accomplished in decades what took the other races centuries to achieve. So some suspicion would be natural. So no, not racist. Every race had a few bad eggs and in order to interact with them you need to remind yourself of the good ones.

But when you are a twenty-one year old Corporal sitting, hands bound, in a chair at the mercy of your captors your views on the galaxy tend to get warped a bit. Wolfe would be lying if he said that he never thought of Torfan. He relived that month long battle every time he looked in a mirror and saw it every time he closed his eyes.

With his free hand, he slowly ran his fingers along the left side of his face which was covered in a series of overlapping shrapnel scars and three long jagged ones that threatened to invade the right side of his face as well. At a quick glance one would see just one big one but in reality they were each an individual. Irving both prided and dreaded the fact that he could recall how he received each one.

Deciding to drown the memories that began flooding his consciousness, Wolfe quickly downed the remainder of the dark amber lager and audibly slammed the now empty mug onto the bar counter.

"Reload," he grunted, which prompted the bartender to half-heartedly place another glass before the lone soldier.

"Crazy stuff, huh?" the bartender said regarding the news broadcast up on the holo-vid. Whilst taking the virgin sip of his new mug, Irving glanced upwards towards said broadcast.

"_Doctor how exactly are you defining this on mass, because we can be talking about hundreds of ships_," the anchorman asked his guest. The text at the bottom of the screen read: **Fleet masses above Europe, are we under attack?** Under that was a sub text claiming that the alliance was denying any reports that an invasion was underway.

The camera switched over to the guest and the fuzzy image of the guest's holographic projection appeared, "_No_," the guest replied, "_we're talking about thousands actually_."

"_Is it your opinion then that this is a preparation for a legitimate attack_?"

The guest let out a comical snort in dismissal, "_I really don't want to lend any credence on reports of mythical sentient warships coming to kill us_," the guest said in a mocking manner.

Irving dismissed it and took a sip from his mug, "Yup," was his response.

"I couldn't help but notice the badge on your armor, you an N7?" the barkeep asked.

"Yup."

The bartender quickly noticed that Wolfe wasn't up for any small talk and walked away. Probably looking to chat up some other, more social patron.

The sound of his omni-tool receiving an incoming call forced Irving's attention downwards to the holographic display on his left wrist. He didn't' even bother checking the caller ID. He already knew who it was.

Irving took a moment to swipe his credit chit to pay his tab and rose to exit the building. His gauntleted arm rose to shield his eyes from the sudden change in lighting as he stepped out into the bright Vancouver afternoon sun.

Wolfe opened up his omni-tool and took the call. His legs were already guiding him to his next destination.

"Hello?" he greeted the caller.

"Hey big bro. Where are you?"

The caller was none other than Irving's one and only younger sibling, Collin Wolfe. The both of them were orphans, their parents killed in a traffic collision in the skies above Terra Nova while the two of them were still in diapers. Afterwards they were sent to live with their grandmother who was one of the few in her company to survive the turian invasion of Shanxi. Even then Irving was forced to neglect his childhood in order to raise both Collin and himself due to the fact that his grandmother was too bust doing lines of red sand in order to deal with what happened on Shanxi. Sure, those actions led him to jail cell more often than not or running away from thugs twice his size. His saving grace came in the form of a priest who found the young man broken and mangled in an alley behind his church. He picked Irving up and put him in the hospital. Once he recovered, the priest paid the bill and pointed him to the nearest Alliance recruiting office. Irving may not be a believer but he knew a decent man and a chance when he saw one. He enlisted and never looked back.

Thankfully, Collin was the smarter of the two brothers. Somehow he managed to win a scholarship to Oxford University and took the quickest shuttle to Earth. In fact, he had only just graduated, walking the stage to clutch his master's degree in mass effect physics.

"I'm heading to the café right now," Irving answered, "is it just us or…" his voice trailing off but the meaning not lost.

"Yeah, it's just us. Claudia is at home with Nadine," Collin said regarding his wife and infant daughter respectively, "the poor woman probably hasn't slept in three mobths."

"Don't complain, you knew what you were getting into," Irving mocked.

"And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole galaxy."

"Except to see said galaxy," Irving reminded his younger brother of his choice to enlist in the Alliance navy.

"Yeah, well," Collin began struggling to find the right words to reply snidely, "diapers don't grow on trees."

"Well if you want to get technical, they sort of do."

"Whatever Irving. So what's going on with you man? You're never usually this chatty. You've been drinking?"

"No," he lied.

"Uh-huh," Collin replied disbelieving, "just get here alright, I already ordered."

"Be there in five," Wolfe said as he shut down the call.

It was only then, now that his mind wasn't preoccupied with a call, did he realize that he was walking through a river of people and doing so with ease. A path seemed perfectly carved right through the massive ensemble of business people and tourists. Most, if not all, were human but there was the occasional asari or salarian here and there.

Irving chuckled when he noticed a pattern forming. A person would glance in his direction, step out of his way, notice his N7 badge and his scars and then break all eye contact. After all, a fully armored and armed operative who looked like he was on the wrong side of a varren fight tended to be an intimidating sight.

"Wrong side of a varren," Irving darkly chuckled out loud at the irony of that.

Not before long, he found himself approaching a French themed restaurant. Table's for patrons sat both inside the café and outside in a small walled area. Irving found Collin seated at the latter.

Collin noticed the arrival of his older brother instantly and rose to greet him. As he shook Irving's hand, he playfully etched a face of mild disappointment regarding Irving's attire.

"Come on Irv, when I said casual, I meant casual for normal people, not super-bad-ass jarheads," Collin greeted sarcastically.

Irving could only laugh at that. Collin and Irving were what some would call polar opposites. If Irving was ying, Collin was his yang. While Irving is quiet, Collin is talkative. He is sociable and outgoing while Irving tended to be more closed off. Irving has a sharp pointy nose while his younger sibling's is small and stubby. Irving's Jaw juts outwards and his chin is cleft and broad. Collin's jaw is thin and his chin is small and shallow. While Collin tended to be more sarcastic and playful, even when its uncalled for, Irving errs on the serious side.

In short, they're perfect for each other.

"I'm just paranoid, I guess," Irving answered, taking his seat across from Collin.

"Okay, I'll let it slide but just this once. I don't need you cramping my style."

"You're style?" the elder balked, "Collin you're married and have a kid, what style could you possibly have?"

Collin shrugged playfully, "you'd be surprised."

The waitress arrived seconds later carrying a mug of fresh coffee for Irving, a refill for Collin and two plates of food for both of them. Each plate held a burger and a small order of French-fries. _It seems the owners were getting culturally diverse_, Irving thought sarcastically towards the irony of getting French-fries at a French themed café.

As Irving lifted the burger up to his lips, his eyes caught something hanging in between the buns. His heart began to race and sweat began to form on his face. Irving licked his lips as his took the first bite.

"Bacon," Irving said in a state of bliss, "little brother you shouldn't have."

"I told you, style."

They both tore into their meals. When Irving went to take a sip from his coffee, he faintly noticed the sweet tender aroma of hazelnut, one of the marine's personal favorites. He threw Collin a mock toast in thanks and sipped it, relishing in something that didn't have MRE tattooed on the front.

"So," Collin began with half his burger in his mouth, "what brings you to Earth? Not that I'm complaining, its just that I heard you N7 types were all business?"

Irving chuckled slightly although he waited before he was finished chewing to answer, "Yes we mean business which is why I'm here actually. I'm sure you've heard about the batarian blackout?"

"Yeah, of course. Shame what Shepard did though, killing all those innocent people."

"Innocent?" Irving balked, "Hardly. The commander did the galaxy a favor that day. Batarians are nothing but a menace on the galaxy. They deserve the worst."

Collin suddenly got defensive, "Oh, so you are going to start deciding what people, like the batarians, deserve."

Irving shut his eyes at that comment. While normally he would agree with Collin that blind hatred was wrong, this is one situation he couldn't agree on. He has seen the true colors of the batarian peoples and he didn't and still doesn't like what he saw.

Unconsciously, Irving's mind drifted to that godforsaken bunker. The screams of his comrades as they were tortured, the feel of his best friend's face break under his fists, the feel of the creature's claws as they dug into his flesh, the look she was giving him as they…

Irving's head shook violently as he whisked away the memories, "yes, I have that right."

Collin must have sensed his brother's inner demons because he backed off but only slightly.

"Irving, what those slavers did to you was monstrous and I am thankful for every day that I can still talk to you, but," Collin stopped abruptly as he struggled to find the right words, "all that hate and rage… its going to burn you up."

Irving looked at him in the eye as he said, "it keeps me warm."

Collin could only shake his head.

"But," he continued, "to answer you question, HighCom thinks there might be a threat of invasion. His unit and I are here to resupply and then we're heading back out."

Grateful that the conversation took a different spin, Collin responded, "When?"

"Tomorrow."

Collin nodded, "Before you go you should stop by the house. I'm sure Claudia would love to see you and you can visit the baby. She got bigger you know. It's a shame her uncle isn't around much though."

"Collin," Irving sighed, "I love his job. I'm doing important things, making a difference out there. Besides, soldiering is really all I know."

His younger brother didn't really have an answer to that mainly because Irving was right. He had enlisted at eighteen and after passing boot camp at Macapa he got sent to the 99th garrison on Eden Prime's southern most continent. Irving stayed there until his transfer to the 15th Infantry Division, one of many divisions slated for the invasion of Torfan. After that he spent several years attacking pirates and slavers along the boarder of the Terminus until his eventual induction into the N program in 2182. Irving joined the N7 team Sabre and remained there to this day.

It was the sound of thunder that drove his eyes upwards. He looked up expecting to see storm clouds brewing but was only greeted with blue skies and the occasional cloudy overcast. There was nothing that could warrant such a sound. Judging the fact that Collin's eyes were pointed skyward as well, he knew that he hadn't imagined it.

Collin easily dismissed it and returned to his meal. But Irving wasn't so easily deterred. His eyes were fixed on the sky when the entire ground seemed to shake. The cutlery and plates jumped in unison to the various tables causing the various patrons to glance around in confusion.

That was when what looked to be meteors began failing planetside. Their trails marked by the fire and heat caused by passing through the upper atmosphere.

"What is that?" someone asked.

As Irving rose to his feet to get a better look, several fireballs came streaking overhead. These seemed different though. They didn't appear to come from space, their velocity was too slow. No, these originated someplace else. Someplace close by.

Suddenly the entire horizon lit up like it was on fire. The likely culprit being some massive explosion. That was when Irving noticed the distant sound of gunfire and explosions. He quickly unclasped his Valkyrie Assault Rifle from the magnetic plating on his back and allowed it to unfold in his arms. Irving instantly regretted not bringing his helmet. It seemed ol' Murphy and his fucking law was throwing Irving another shitty hand, punishing him for not being prepared. But this was Earth! What could he have possibly been prepared for?

Irving was in the middle of chastising himself when another dozen fireballs landed in the nearby street. The earth shook and cracked wherever they landed. A few managed to pierce the surrounding buildings including the café he was standing outside of.

The force of the explosion that followed sent him off his feet. His ears began ringing and his vision was spotty. When he regained his senses he realized that he was on his back and was covered in debris and dirt that must have been kicked up. Irving quickly rose to his knees and picked up his rifle, scanning the front of the café for anything hostile.

When people began screaming and pointing at something behind him, Irving turned half expecting to see a batarian death squad or something similar. What he did see made him pause for a moment.

A person was shambling out of the impact crater. Only thing is, is that while it looked like a person, something was wrong. The eyes, the skin texture, the various tubes… it wasn't human. It looked human but now it seemed… soulless… a husk of its former self.

A police car came speeding up, its four wheels screeching to a stop some distance before the husk. Two officers disembarked, brandishing predator hand guns.

The husk turned towards the officers, drawn by the noise and began shambling towards them.

"Stop, or we will open fire!" ordered the lead officer, his partner not too far behind. The husk ignored their demands and turned its shamble into a trot. The officer repeated his order once more and once more it went ignored as the creature entered into a full out sprint.

This time there was no warning and the officers both fired into their attacker. The rounds entered and exited its chest and it fell, skidding along the pavement until coming to a stop at the officer's feet. Alarmingly a pool of red blood began to form around it. Both cops looked at each other then down at the husk. Two centuries of horror movies and paranoia fueling them as they kept their weapons trained on their victim.

Out of the corner of his eye Irving saw something rise from another impact crater. It was red, bulky, had four eyes, and, most worrisome, had some kind of weapon attached to it right arm.

Before he could act, it roared, opening it maw to reveal insides that glowed a bright bluish light. It raised its weapon as four more similar creatures joined it and fired.

The lead officer was the first to go down. The shot pierced his skull, killing him instantly. His partner turned to return fire only to be met by the creature's buddies who opened up on him. The force from the amount of fire the creatures threw at him sent the poor officer flying backwards and landing in a pool of his own blood.

This time Irving didn't hesitate as he raised his weapon and began sending volley after volley towards the mysterious hostiles. Years of training and experience guiding his shots as three of the four hostiles went down.

By now panic was everywhere. People were running in every direction, looking for whatever refuge they could find. More and more fireballs were landing around spilling out more and more husks and their four eyed counterparts.

It soon became too much and with no cover to speak of, Irving knew that he needed to think of something.

"Irving, watch out!"

The N7 turned to see two of the four eyed invaders bearing down on him. He took the next couple milliseconds to remember how much he had left in his current clip and summarized that he had enough left to take out at least one.

Irving acted as fast as his body would allow him to and disposed of the nearest creature first. He dropped his rifle and turned to confront-

_Pain!_

The creature flailed outwards with its gun arm and smacked him clean in the nose. Irving was actually surprised by how much power was behind that right hook as he felt his nose break. He did his best to ignore the pain and tears filling up his eyes and instantly reached for his boot knife.

Irving stabbed the creature right in its jugular. It let out a shrill like scream and attempted to repeat its last attack and aimed a swing at his head. The burly marine ducked underneath it, feeling the distortion of air above his head and let loose a powerful kick.

It sent the creature stumbling backwards far enough that he had time to whip out his Crusader Shotgun from the small of his back and fire two slugs into the creature's body. The first slammed into the creature's shoulder rocking the entire body towards the afflicted side. The next hit its… hump?... and it flew backwards.

Irving calmly strode over to it. He was amazed to see it still trying to stand but a well placed boot to its face stopped that prematurely. He aimed his shotgun and mercilessly blew its head off.

Irving took a couple seconds to notice that the blowback from the creature's face was a mix of organic and inorganic substances. He saw skull, blood, and brain matter but also saw a various array of tubing, circuitry, and metal implants.

Before Wolfe could investigate any further a shot slammed into his back and he felt his shields flare. He looked over his shoulder to see over a dozen of the four eyed creatures advancing on his position.

Irving fired the remaining shots left in his Crusader and watched as two of the hostiles fell.

"We need to move!" Irving yelled to his brother who was huddled behind a table that was knocked onto its side.

"I agree! But where to?" he yelled back.

The N7 took this time to slide his service hand gun, a simple predator, over to Collin who immediately snatched it up and began to return fire.

Irving paused when he heard the sound of a high pitched whistling noise and looked up to the sky. He saw a Mantis gunship, its engine on fire and spiraling out of control. In his mind he traced its path and saw that it was coming right for them. Irving wasted no time in picking up his Valkyrie and Crusader a placing them on his back. He grabbed Collin's wrist and practically threw him into the café. Wolfe followed seconds after just as the gunship slammed into the group of hostiles who were firing at them.

What greeted them inside the café could only be described as a massacre. Every patron and employee was killed. Each either shot in the back as they tried to run or shot in the front as they were taken by surprise.

Irving looked over to Collin whose eyes were wide in surprise and disgust. He reloaded both his weapons and put a hand on his brother's shoulder grasping his attention. Collin looked down to Irving's hand which was presenting him with a fresh thermal clip. He took it wordlessly and reloaded as well.

"Still think I'm paranoid?" Irving asked trying to lighten the mood but could see Collin was extremely perturbed by what was going down.

To be honest Wolfe was as well. No soldier ever can get used to seeing dead civilians. But as a soldier Irving has been trained to put those thoughts towards the back of his mind and address them when his life wasn't up for grabs.

Irving followed his brother's gaze back out onto the street and past the smoldering wreckage of the gunship. Most of the creatures had moved further down the block, chasing the remaining civilians and gunning down those they caught up with. However a couple remained. Irving nearly upchucked when he saw that they were actually eating the members of their dead.

"Jesus…" Collin muttered as a creature tore off another's and munched on it like it was a chicken leg, "They're… like cannibals or something… eating their own dead… but why?"

Irving shared this curiosity too. That is until he noticed that with every bite, the cannibal's skin would grow tougher and darker. The first one to finish stood upright and began striding towards another group. Irving recognized what he thought was communication between the two creatures and noticed that the cannibal was walking a little more intelligently than before, as if it had better control over its own body.

"We need to get out of here," the marine said trying to stay rational even though on the inside he was screaming his head off.

Collin nodded in agreement, "true but where do we go?"

Irving had no answer besides, "link up with my team. They're in an apartment block not too far from here. If we can find them we can form sort of organized defense, fight back."

"Okay, cool, but who exactly are we fighting?"

Irving Wolfe took a look at both forms of these invaders trying to recognize anything about them that could name a culprit. He just kept drawing blanks.

"I don't know kid, I don't know."

_**Author's Note  
**__**For those who have read this before**__**: I've changed the POV from first person to third person. This was mainly due to the fact that third person is much easier and more fun to write. Also I have plenty of ideas for the later chapters that I can't do if the story is in first person.  
**__**For those who haven't read this yet**__**: Thank you for joining me and I hope you enjoyed this. As you can tell it takes place at the start of Mass Effect 3 and will continue on in accordance with iBayne's story Galaxy at War: N7. If you are unfamiliar with it, go check it out, it's in my favorites. It is actually where Irving Wolfe, this stories main character, comes from. I submitted this character and soon decided to do a back story explaining his origins. Two other characters will appear as well but not until next chapter.**_

_**So thank you and remember to review if you have anything you'd like to say or have questions that you want answered.**_

_**So long and stay classy!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

So I may have messed up an author's name last time around. It's actually Andrigno not Andringo. So sorry for that and I hope you can forgive me.

*Once again this chapter will be revised as well as every chapter from this point on.

Onwards!

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Vancouver Megacity  
United North American States  
Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

Sarah Jade was tired. Her training regimen had pushed her past exhaustion and all she could think about was sleep and possibly grabbing something quick to eat.

Major Lyonhart, her Alliance appointed trainer and instructor had told her that every time she reached past her threshold of endurance, she was simply extending her own willpower even further. With enough training she would be able to last even longer in a battle field than she was able to at present.

But that still left the young lieutenant sweating up a storm and feeling both mentally and physically fatigued. Despite her training ending hours ago, she had remained awake.

Lyonhart had also instructed her to mediate at least four hours a day, before and after training as to hone her mental focus. Sarah took this instruction to the letter, after all if it wasn't for the Alliance she would just be another poor sod stuck in the many orphanages of Elysium.

Sarah remembered many things from her childhood. Some good, some bad. As a kid she used to sit upon the roof of the three story orphanage and just stare out onto the nearby sprawling metropolis of the capitol city. Because of her biotics she was ridiculed as a child and made few friends. So those little moments to herself were a welcome relief from her everyday struggles. Later in life she had learned that most of her childhood bullies had delved into the underworld of drugs and petty crime but Sarah had been luckier than the rest. She had been discovered by the Alliance Ascension Program when she was six and was put on the nearest shuttle to Grissom Academy.

There she found herself among equals. No one made fun of her for being smarter or being a biotic because everyone there was either really smart or a biotic. She found herself smiling when people judged her not for her use of the element zero in her system but instead for her personality.

Sarah Jade thrived in that environment. She aced her exams, pummeled the other trainees in their little sparring matches and became what one teacher described as a biotic savant. It was only natural that when she turned eighteen she took up the Alliance's recruitment offer.

As soon as she accepted she was immediately sent to Officer's Candidate School. Once again Jade found herself accelerating through the course leaving her colleagues behind to eat her proverbial dust. Upon graduating the course she was outfitted with the L3 biotic implants and sent to the biotic exclusive 103rd Shock Trooper Division. She remained there for an additional two years with the rank of Second Lieutenant until she received an offer from the Office of Naval Intelligence to enlist in the Alliance Special Forces N program.

Sarah joined and, even though it was the most difficult training course she had ever endured, she eventually passed and promoted to First Lieutenant. Along with her new rank she was also re-outfitted with the L5 implant that increased her natural destructive power tenfold.

It had only been two months since her graduation from Rio Villa. As such, with any biotic graduate, she was given a mentor to increase her skills even further. In layman's terms it was basically another unofficial training aspect that she needed to complete. She was still an N7 but still not taken seriously.

She had previously turned off the lights and closed the blinds of every window in her small apartment that the N7 higher-ups were courteous enough to provide. She sat in the middle of the living area cross legged and in the typical meditative manner that Lyonhart had previously showed her.

The Major was not in at the moment. Usually he would accompany her in her mediations but he had instead to attend a briefing along with the rest of the 103rd somewhere near the market district. What the briefing was about was beyond her and she had more important thing to worry about anyway.

Like the sounds of thunder storms brewing outside. Every crack of thunder would disrupt her Zen-like state and she found herself having to constantly start over.

Finally, with a huff of annoyance, Sarah rose from her position and headed over to the kitchen. With the idea of obtaining some precious calories she opened the fridge only to be interrupted when the entire building seemed to shake.

Curious, Sarah made her way over to the nearest window and opened the blinds. What greeted her could only be described as hell.

Fires and explosions were dotting the entire city, as far as the eye could see. Large mechanical… squids… were marching around using some high-end energy weapon to obliterate everything in their path and shooting down any Alliance craft that arrived to respond. Reddish-orange fireballs streaked over head and what looked like meteors were falling planetside.

The young biotic stood there dumbfounded for a split second before snapping into action. She rushed over to her private room and opened the small footlocker that rested at the foot of her bed. Upon opening it she was greeted with her light fitting, scarlet colored combat armor, along with her N7 Hurricane SMG and her N7 Crusader Shotgun. The Hurricane was her preferred weapon of choice, using its rapid fire capabilities to pin down her enemies until her biotics became available again. Her Crusader, on the other hand, was a gift from one of the N7 instructors who served during the invasion of Torfan.

She took a moment to dress herself, slapping on the parts of her armor in a mechanical and methodical manner and loaded her weapons. Any spare thermal clips were placed on the magnetic parts of her belt.

Locked and loaded, Jade exited her apartment, but not before leaving a note to the Major in case he returned to look for her.

Already the halls of the four story apartment complex were bustling with panic. People were running around in a crazed fashion but most seemed to be heading up from the first floor and sporting a variety of wounds. She wanted to stay and help these people, using what little knowledge she had in first aid, but being a soldier first she darted past and headed downwards.

Sarah took a second to stop and try the elevator. Already she began to feel the all too familiar levels of exhaustion creeping up on her and if she could save her energy for whoever was attacking would be preferable.

But as fate would have it, the elevator was non-responsive. So she immediately headed toward the stairwell. Instantly she felt rounds ping off her shields and glanced down to see the oddest creature she'd ever laid eyes on assaulting her. Not too far away more creatures of similar design were treading up towards her.

Acting on impulse, Sarah let loose with a biotic push. Using textbook form, she sent her initial attacker into the nearby wall and grimaced at the sound of cracking plaster and bone. She was about to move on when she suddenly stopped, noticing that the four-eyed abomination was attempting to stand and bring its arm grafted weapon to her direction.

Sarah's bewilderment cost her. The creature's buddies arrived seconds later and her surroundings began to fall apart from the combined fire. Sarah let out a small shriek and dove for cover. She took a second to brace herself and calm her beating heart before blind firing over the railing she was huddled behind. Remembering her training she quickly brought up a barrier around herself and stood fully upright before sending an area effecting shockwave in the direction of the hostiles.

Each one was thrown off their feet and Sarah, without hesitating this time, dead tapped each one, placing two rounds into the chest and the _coup-de-ta_ to the head.

Finally the firefight that seemed to only take a few seconds but felt like hours was over. Sarah felt her vision get spotty as she braced herself on the nearby wall as to not fall over. She shook her head and continued her descent. She had no time for rest, she needed to push on.

Upon reaching the first floor, she was met by the stench and sight of blood yet strangely could not find the bodies that the blood belonged to. As she made her way into the lobby, moving cautiously and with her Hurricane at the ready, she began to hear the sounds of muffled roaring and shrieking. All of it sounded utterly inhuman and she felt a wave of fear crawl over her.

Quite suddenly something tackled her from behind. Acting defensively, Sarah rolled onto her back and found herself face to face with something straight out of a horror vid. It looked human, probably once was, but now its skin was a mechanical blue hue and it sported several tubes, other artificial constructs and pale blue lighting around its body. It was also ridiculously strong, but Sarah could feel that despite it strength it was rather fragile.

She let loose with a biotic kick that sent the snarling creature flying upwards until it collided with the ceiling where it broke apart as if it was made of glass.

Standing up and attempting to brush away her shock, Sarah located her discarded weapon and checked to make sure it was still in operating order.

She flinched when the shrieking and roars became closer and closer until the door to the basement levels busted open. Creatures, similar to the one that had just assaulted her, were flowing forth like water bursting from a dam.

Sarah hefted her Hurricane and opened up. One dropped, and then another and then another, but there were simply too many and her gun quickly ran out.

Without stopping to reload, Sarah dropped back on her right foot and extended her arm. She let loose a torrent of biotic energy than killed most of the front line. Yet the back ranks pushed forward, giving their dead no heed. Despite their cold mechanical eyes, Sarah could tell that they wouldn't stop until she was dead.

Once again she sent out a shockwave, either killing or immobilizing the second wave. With a few seconds to breathe she reloaded her Hurricane and opened up again.

Sarah felt herself growing fearful that she would soon be overrun. She turned to run away only to find herself surround, any avenue of escape cut off.

So this was it. Everything in her life led to this point, to die here at the hands of these things. Yet, defiant to her fate, Sarah defended herself. If she was going to die she would take as many of these bastards with her as she could.

Unknown to her, a lone husk was creeping up behind her. She was so focus on the ones before her she didn't notice until the creature was upon her.

_Pain!_

The creature let out a feral backhand to the side of her head, intent on immobilizing her. For what? Sarah hadn't the faintest idea. It let loose with several more haymakers.

_Pain!_

Finally Sarah dropped to the floor, her face beaten and bruised. She felt so tired and her vision began to fade she could see more and more of the blue feral creatures descending upon her. She was done for. She knew it.

XxxxxX

Alec Carter was bored. Normally he would be out in the fringes of Alliance space with the rest of his unit but up until recently he had no unit per se. He was an N7 now. He was one of the best, belonging to the most decorated group of Special Forces operatives in all of human history.

_Fifteen… sixteen… seventeen… eighteen…_

Alec had enlisted at eighteen, leaving behind his sick mother and younger sister. His father was already off world, serving in the Alliance navy as a Trident Pilot. As such it was up to Alec to be the man of the house. The best way to provide for his family was to enlist and reap the benefits that came with it.

_Twenty-seven… twenty-eight… twenty-nine…_

Surprisingly, to Alec at least, he found himself enjoying military life. The discipline, the camaraderie, and the fact you were allowed to carry and shoot the prime of human weaponry; it appealed to the young man's similar personality. Sure he was bit naïve to the workings of the galaxy but he understood that wisdom comes with age.

_Thirty-two… thirty-three… thirty-four…_

Rank also came with the same package and after serving for three years in the 32nd Garrison Division on Elysium he was promoted to sergeant. Due to his seemingly natural ability as a soldier, he was offered to undergo the Alliance's Interplanetary Combative Training, or as it was known to the public, N7 training. Most of his former colleges didn't even think that he would pass N1 and he remembered as he left a few of them said that they'd save his bunk for when he returned.

_Forty-nine… fifty… fifty-one…_

But he never did. After surviving each level of the N Program, Carter was in the home stretch of earning his N7 badge. All that remained was a shuttle ride to Rio Villa and, according to veterans of the ceremony, sit through a boring three hour ceremony.

_Sixty-four… sixty-five… sixty-six…_

That was the main reason he found himself in Vancouver. After a short ride to Virginia to pick up his sister Alicia who was adamant about attending her only brother's graduation ceremony, he took another to Vancouver where he was now awaiting yet another shuttle that was heading to Rio de Janeiro. From there he would be ferried to the N7 Headquarters at _Vila Militar_.

_Seventy-one… Seventy-two… seventy-three…_

So now Alec found himself simply standing by to stand by. Typical military bullshit. They trained new recruits to handle everything thrown at them, to adapt to anything and everything. And yet there was no advice to handle boredom. Sure there were several things a marine could do to keep themselves occupied. Once of them was physical training.

_Eighty-three… eighty-four… eighty-five…_

Which was exactly was Sergeant Alec Carter found himself doing. Push-ups were the easiest way to stay in shape. After he was done with this set of a hundred he was going to do another set of a hundred and fifty sit-ups. Then he might go for a jog. Who knows, the day was young.

The sound of the door to his room opening made him pause mid stride. He glanced upwards for a moment catching the gaze from his younger sister before resuming. Like a good girl, Alicia Carter waited for her brother to finish, stand and grab a nearby towel as to wipe away the sweat from his face.

"Yes?" Alec asked with his back turned to Alicia.

"There are two guys here to see you," said Alicia, "they're waiting in the living room."

Alec turned and thanked his sister, taking a moment to notice how much like their mother Alicia was. From pictures to old vids, Alicia was called by others a younger version of Mrs. Carter. She even acted like their mother sometimes. Scolding Alec when he did something reckless or being against every relationship the young man was ever in. Alec knew that his sister was only being protective yet that didn't stop them from bumping heads every now and again.

Thankfully that's where the similarities stopped. When Alec's mother was pregnant with Alicia, Alec's father took his family on a vacation to Singapore, to visit the exotic eastern customs and bond closer as a family. Alec remembered that it was one of the few occasions when his father was actually on Earth. Unfortunately that was when an eezo tanker exploded above the city, raining the Element Zero down onto the populace below.

Alec's mother began suffering severe migraines afterwards and after the birth of her second child contracted a very resilient form of cancer. While Alicia grew up to develop biotic powers, their mother slowly died. Two years ago, that fateful and inevitable day happened and Alicia was forced to live by herself in Virginia while her brother and father went off to play soldier.

Alec would never pester Alicia again. As such he found himself becoming more and more protective of her. Any man that even so much as looked at her wrong was going to face his fury and the fury of those who he considered friends.

Stepping out into his hotel room's living room, he found two of his previously mentioned friends. Private Greg Franklin and Private Henry Dowell were two of Alec's comrades from the 32nd.

"Greg! Henry! What brings you to Vancouver?" Alec said greeting his friends.

Both men rose to welcome Alec's greeting. To Alicia's surprise when she opened the door, both men were fully outfitted in the typical marine combat armor and had M7 Avengers holstered on their backs.

"Please," joked Dowell, "you think we were just going to sit by and watch our baby face sergeant become a man. God forbid."

Alec chuckled regardless of the jab, "shove it up your ass Henry. When did you get in system?"

"A few hours ago," answered Franklin, "We had to make a pit stop at Luna base first otherwise we would have gotten here sooner."

Alec dismissed him, "no worries, you're here now. Come on, happy hour might not be until later but my shuttle isn't leaving until tomorrow. Let's have a night on the town, paid for by your friendly neighborhood Alliance," Alec offered playfully as he waved around the credit chit the N7 brass had given him for… necessities.

All three men lit up with the prospect of drinking and partying. That is until they were all silenced by the sounds of rumbling thunder.

"Well, that's going to suck," Alec commented sullenly. He had no wish to drunkenly stumble through the rain as his future self bar hopped.

Franklin and Dowell exchanged glances.

"Did you remember storm clouds coming in on the bird?" asked Dowell.

Franklin simply shook his head, "No, but then again this is Earth. The weather has been crazy ever since the 21st century. But a storm forming that fast?"

Alec and the others stared out the window, waiting for the sky to darken or rain to begin pelting the window. But it never came. All they could hear was thunder.

"Why aren't we seeing any lightning?" asked Alicia.

The three marines all glanced in her direction for a moment. In a split second Franklin and Dowell un-slung their Avengers as Alec disappeared into the next room. Minutes later he re-emerged fully decked out in his white and blue armor, holding his Death Mask in one hand and his Valkyrie in the other. On his back Alicia could see her brother's prized N7 Valiant sniper rifle.

Alicia had no idea what they were planning to do but when she saw the three men begin to load their weapons she felt her heart race.

Before she could ask anything, the four heard the unmistakable sounds of gunfire. They all ran to the nearest window and peered out into the street.

To Alicia's horror she could see dark red, four eyed creatures gunning innocent people down wherever the fled. Flaming balls of fire screamed over head and the ground shook every time one landed nearby. Other creatures began to appear as well. These looked vaguely human but not human at the same time. They ran around like zombies from the old horror flicks she and Alec would watch late at night and she began to feel that all too organic feeling of fear creeping up on her.

"Look there, across the street!" exclaimed Franklin.

Across the street from their hotel was a four story apartment complex. From their vantage point they could see a lone woman in red scarlet armor holding off wave after wave of the blue zombies, using her biotics in ways that Alicia never thought possible.

"We need to get over there!" yelled Alec and the four of them darted from the safety of their room and into the hall. Dowell was kind enough to quickly hand Alicia his pistol, a simple predator, saying to use it only if necessary. Alicia held the gun like it was a used discarded tissue before her, eyeing the weapon like it would go off at any second. Eventually she grabbed hold of herself and followed the three men out of the room.

The trip down to the main floor didn't take long at all. There were a small group of fearful people clustered in the various hallways but upon seeing three armored marines charging towards them, quickly got out of the way.

Once street level, Alec paused his little group for a moment to allow whatever hostiles remained to pass them by. Once clear he led them charging across the street and towards the hotel. From the sounds of things, he hoped that he wasn't too late.

XxxxxX

Sarah knew she was a goner. One of the creatures was standing above her. It glanced at one of its comrades, gestured to Sarah, and grunted in some primal and simplistic form of communication. She felt herself get picked up, her hands being bound behind her. She struggled, naturally, but she felt so weak. The "leader" came over and seemed to sniff at her before grunting once again.

Suddenly the world around her exploded. The husks began to fall one by one, bursts of red blood flying away from every impact point.

In her peripheral vision she saw three armored men approaching her with a scared young girl standing not too far away. The soldiers moved forward, pushing the tide back until the last husk fell and dropped Sarah from its grasp.

Once done they spread outwards, securing the area.

"Clear right!"

"Clear left!"

The final soldier, wearing white and blue armor nodded and folded his Valkyrie Assault Rifle onto his back, "All clear. Dowell, Franklin, watch our six," the young blonde male ordered. The other soldiers snapped to and began to watch their surrounding with vigilant eyes.

Before Sarah could thank them, the blonde spoke again, "Alicia, come here."

The girl, mesmerized by the blood and gore that littered the once pristine lobby, snapped out of her reverie and headed over to the prone Jade.

Sarah noticed, with barely attentive eyes how similar the blonde and the girl were appearance wise. The girl, Alicia, came striding forward and placed Sarah's head on her lap, opening up her omni-tool.

"Alec, she got bruising along the right side of her head. Other than that I can't see anything else wrong."

The blonde, Alec, nodded, and pulled something from his belt. It took Alicia a few seconds to realize it was medi-gel. Once Alec inserted it into her bloodstream, she felt the pain in her head slowly fade away.

After reassuring Alicia that she was alright, Sarah made to stand, wobbling a bit when she reached her feet.

"Thank you. Thought I was a goner for sure," stated Sarah.

Alec shook his head, "Not a problem at all. The name's Sergeant Alec Carter, this is my sister, Alicia, and that's Franklin and Dowell."

"A pleasure. I'm First Lieutenant Sarah Jade, Alliance N7."

Alec chuckled, "well that explains a lot. I'd very much appreciate your help Lieutenant, if we're to get out of this in one piece."

Sarah nodded, claiming her weapons in the process, "I'm heading west, to link up with the 103rd. My Co is over there and if there is any one who can get us through this, it's him."

Alec motioned towards the door, "lead the way lieutenant."

_**Author's Note  
So this is my revised chapter two. As you can see I'm putting more details into Alec and Sarah as well as Irving's stories and what they were doing before the Reapers arrived. In Galaxy at War: N7 the three are a team and this little back story will explain how they became a team and how they got off earth with the Reapers destroying everything in sight. The former CH2 will now be chapter three and so on and so forth.**_

_**I hope everyone enjoys this better than before. Trust me when I say I think it is.**_

_**Dear, Andridno and AXL99  
**__**unfortunately my PM on this site is down and isn't operating for some odd reason. I know you usually tell over PM what you thought but unfortunately, since it doesn't work for me for some reason, I ask that you put it through the review section. Thank you kindly.  
-Blackbox Inc.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

*This chapter, up until the story arc's conclusion will all be revised. This was formally chapter two but has now been slated for three. Every chapter from this point on, that had already been written, will be revised like this. Sorry for any inconvenience and I do hope you all enjoy this version better.

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Vancouver Megacity  
United North American States  
Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

As a Special Forces operator Irving Wolfe was trained to adapt to any situation, thrive in said situation and then turn his enemies' strengths into weakness. As such he hadn't truly feared anything in a very long time. Sure death was always a constant and Wolfe wouldn't go so far as to say that he wasn't afraid of dying, but his decade long career in the marines and N7s have sort of… desensitized…his feelings towards that particular subject.

But when he caught the sight of his first Reaper Irving felt true actual fear. Like every other person in the galaxy he watched as Shepard became the first human SpecTre, a monumental leap towards humanity earning a council seat. The follow up revelation that the attack on Eden Prime was actually responsible by a reaper was met with a mix of blind refusal and lingering doubt.

But as he watched the squid-like mechanical leviathan march through Vancouver, tearing through humanity's defenses like a hot knife through butter, there wasn't any more doubt in his mind. Granted at the time Irving had no idea what they were. He actually didn't find out until later on.

But that's a moot point…

By this time, Collin and Irving had grabbed hold of their senses. They quickly and quietly ducked out the back door of the café, passing by more and more dead civilians. They soon found themselves in a nearby back alley. Unfortunately a couple husks were also present; standing over the remains of some poor sod that probably got ran down and killed.

They took cover behind a pair of dumpsters and planned their next move. With the husk pair's back to them, they had a chance to keep things as quiet as they possibly could. Irving looked over at Collin and pressed his finger to his lips, a clear sign to stay quiet.

Taking the lead Irving pulled his knife from his belt and crept towards the abominations trying not to cause anything that would otherwise give away his position. Normally, for close encounters and normal CQC, a marine or in this case an N7 would switch over to their omni-blade. But Irving enjoyed using his knife. As sadistic as it sounds, Irving enjoyed feeling his enemy pass on. It put things in perspective. No one should ever enjoy killing another sentient creature. By forcing himself to feel his victim die, to feel their blood cascade over his hand, Irving would make sure to never become too desensitized to killing. Even he would admit that it sounded like an excuse, but it was the only thing he could justify himself with and in the end, for a man, that's all that really matters.

Irving managed to get close and lashed out with his blade, stabbing the creature in the base of its neck. He was mildly surprised when cold red blood splashed across his face. Unfortunately he didn't have time to investigate any further because the creature howled in pain and alerted its nearby brother to Irving's presence. However, before the uninflected husk could act, Collin ran up and pistol whipped the backside of the husk's head. This gave Irving enough time to lodge his knife free and turn towards the dazed husk. The N7 aimed a stab where he presumed the heart would be and-

It had no effect. The creature's head rose to meet Wolfe's and it bared its teeth, ready to take a chunk out of his neck if he let it. But Irving snarled back, refusing to be served as diner to some grotesque freak of nature. Irving exited his knife from its side and stabbed once more, this time in husk's eye.

This time, the creature did nothing but let its head fall back and pass swiftly into the afterlife. Irving let the creature fall to the blood soaked ground and took a moment to wipe the blood from his face. After making himself nice and tidy, he bent over and retrieved his knife. As he did, Irving also began to worry.

Collin had barely uttered a word since the attack began. It wasn't like him to just shut down. Worse, he began to remind Irving of himself. And even he knows how big of an ass he is.

Irving searched his mind for all the possibilities that could cause this reaction. When he finally did come to the most logical solution, he could blame only himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"I'm sure they're fine," he uttered without looking at his brother, intent on pretending to investigate the husks.

Collin glanced over at him with only the smallest amount of confusion. It was as if he were surprised Irving was able to nail down what he was thinking or he truly had no idea what his brother was talking about. Judging from his response Irving assumed he had guessed right.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said softly.

"Look, Claudia's a big girl I'm sure-" Irving started but Collin quickly cut me off.

"Not all of us can be like you Irving. Not all of us are fighters. If these things managed to get to her, I don't…" he trailed off.

The burly marine understood what Collin was going to say regardless. In fact Irving had already chalked his sister-in-law and his niece up as dead. These things were killing indiscriminately. They weren't targeting earth's infrastructure, they were targeting its people. That much Irving was certain of. If… no… when these things found Claudia, she wouldn't stand a chance.

Irving was about to say something reassuring, lie to his brother and tell him that the creatures probably haven't found his family yet and there was still time. However, he never got the chance. His words died before he could utter them when one of the most painful sensations Irving Wolfe had ever felt slammed into his shoulder.

Irving tried to ignore it, he honestly did. But it wasn't just pain and then it's after effects. No this was a lingering pain. It felt as if someone had stabbed him with a branding iron and wouldn't let up.

Irving turned as his vision began to fade slightly, and saw a figure darting towards him, its arm alight with a blue aura.

_Biotics_, he thought, _perfect_!

Standard operating procedure when fighting hand to hand against a biotic was to always stay on the offensive. Drop back for even a second and the biotic would use their speed against you and you'll lose. Simple as that. It was similar if a cheetah and a lion had a slugging match. Despite the lion's strength, the cheetah would have maneuverability. Lesson one from boot was that if you can outmaneuver your enemy, you can dictate how the battle was going to go.

Irving somehow managed to throw a punch as the figure approached. It used its speed and evaded it easily, seeing his blind hook coming a mile away. What it didn't see was his leg as it snapped outwards and collided with his attacker's. Irving heard the attacker wince in pain but did not let up. He let loose with several body shots aimed at the solar plexus. Another thing Irving implemented was the fact that when fighting a biotic you needed to be unorthodox, keep your opponent guessing. Once again, it was designed to keep you on the offensive and your opponent on the defensive.

After connecting with the attacker's face and body with several more jabs, Irving did the one thing he knew he shouldn't and it ended up costing him the fight; he dropped back on his left foot, ready to tackle the figure to the ground. The figure saw this coming and avoided it easy, snapping at the N7 with a series of jabs, meant to test Irving's posture, seeing if the man was either feigning defense or was seriously shifting gears.

Unfortunately for Irving, he had no designs to feign appearances. Once his opponent avoided his attack he realized what he had done wrong had was forced to defend himself.

_Pain!_

The figure's biotic supported fist came up and socked him right in the side of the head. He almost blacked out right then and there. Irving stumbled to the side and the figure responded by throwing another punch, this time from the left.

_Pain!_

In his mind Irving saw the next shot coming and put both fists together as he blocked the probing knee shot aimed at his groin. Whoever this was, they liked to fight dirty.

The knee shot however was simply another ploy, an easily defendable shot aimed to force Irving to lower his guard. As such, Irving felt his face recoil from another jab as the figure sent a haymaker straight into his already broken nose. Irving let out a curse and pushed the figure away as hard as he could.

The N7 fell to his knee almost instantly. The figure approached calmly and was about to finish him off when a voice rang through the fight, causing both Irving and the figure to pause.

"Stop already!"

XxxxxX

Sarah didn't know if humans can succumb to bloodlust but that's the excuse she gave people when she explained what happened and why she before never noticed that she was fighting another person.

Sarah looked down at her opponent. To her left, unseen before was another man holding a standard issue handgun. The man had the gun pointed at her, although Sarah couldn't tell if he was ready to pull the trigger. He was shouting something at her, snapping his aim from her to her followers, attempting and failing to cover both himself and the man she was just fighting.

Sarah glanced back to see who yelled. As she did, she took a couple seconds to review her allies of convenience.

The owner of the voice was the girl, Alicia, although she couldn't have been over seventeen and yet was holding a pistol regardless. Standing next to her was her brother. A young blonde, clean shaven man wearing white Armax Arsenal armored legs, white and blue Hanhe-Kedar chest plates and shoulders and arms with matching colors. In his arms was an unfolded Valkyrie rifle to which he let fall to his side as he pulled off his white and blue death mask. Behind the two of them were the two Alliance marines that accompanied Alec and Alicia when they saved Sarah from the husks. Both were wearing full body armor and holding standard issued Avenger assault rifles.

"Stay back Alicia," Sarah ordered.

Irving looked at his attacker and saw standing before him, a young woman with scarlet red hair and armor that, while not as bulky, was similar to his own. Resting at her hip was a N7 Hurricane submachine gun and on the small of her back was, what he suspected to be, a N7 Crusader. Nothing else stood out more than the well polished N7 badge resting above her right breast.

After quieting down Alicia, Sarah turned her attention back to Irving. Her outstretched hand glowed blue once more and Irving spoke as quickly as he could before she decided to finish him off.

"Gunnery Sergeant Irving Wolfe, N7 team Sabre," he uttered through his gritted teeth.

Jade backed off in surprise and then just noticed Irving's own N7 badge that, while plainly visible over his all black armor, was also a bit rougher around the edges. Probably from repeat wear and tear.

"First Lieutenant Sarah Jade, N7," Sarah greeted, letting her powers die down. To her side, she heard the other man let out a sigh of relief.

She held out her hand and helped Irving to his feet.

"Sorry about that. Can't be too careful," she apologized while keeping the same tone she had earlier.

"No problem ma'am," Irving said wiping away the blood from his nose, "I can understand a little caution."

"Caution?" voiced Alec, "she whooped your ass man!"

Irving stared daggers at the guy for a moment before shrugging. With everything getting blown up around them, he had no time for dick shaking.

"Whatever," dismissed Irving.

Sarah took a moment to look over the man before her. She had never fought against a non-biotic before. Well, never before in a fast paced environment. But Irving had surprised her. She knew she was faster and stronger but the bulky marine had held his own. If it wasn't for that one slip up she would have lost. Judging from that, the marine's scars and his scratched up and beaten armor, Sarah was going to go out on a limb and say that this guy was experienced, well trained, and talented.

Sarah, slapping her forehead as if she forgot something critical, went about introducing the members of her entourage.

"The baby-faced lad in blue and white is Sergeant Alec Carter and that's his sister Alicia next to him. Behind them are privates Dowell and Franklin."

Irving nodded and motioned towards his brother, "that's Collin."

Jade nodded and got to business, "we're on our way to regroup with the 103rd over in the market district. Last transmission I got from there said that they were holding out and relatively well at that."

"I'd advise against that ma'am," Irving quickly added, "we have no idea how fast the situation has changed and chances are that they aren't as combat effective as before."

Jade sneered, "Alright then, _sergeant_, what do you advise?"

"Link up with the rest of Sabre," he said bluntly.

"And have you managed to contact them at all?"

"No ma'am, all comms are down."

Carter laughed at this, "So you're telling me that we have to decide between fucked or screwed?"

Irving shrugged, "pretty much."

Carter let out a small disbelieving laugh at this, "fantastic."

Irving shook his head, "frankly, and with all due respect, you all can do whatever the hell you want. I'm linking up with my team. My team, mind you, are a group of highly trained N7s and are located only a couple of blocks away from here. The 103rd, from what you've told me, are half way across the city. How long do you think we'll make it, a group this size?"

Jade, while shooting daggers at him, pondered this. He was right and she hated him for that. Alone, or maybe with just Alec and Alicia, she could have made it. But with the two marines, Wolfe and his own brother… that complicated things. Sarah thought it out for a moment longer. If they were N7s, maybe they could get her to where she wanted to go? Or maybe she could borrow a transport? Eventually she grabbed hold of her Hurricane and nodded, "Alright, we link up with Sabre. You have point chief along with Carter. Move out."

As one they all began to walk towards the end of the alley. Alec and Irving darted to the front, keeping their eyes open for anything before them that could hinder their movements. Sarah took up the middle with Collin and Alicia, while Franklin and Dowell covered their rear, making sure nothing snuck up from behind.

They didn't get very far before Irving heard a series of explosions and the unmistakable sound of gunfire up ahead. He raised his arm, bent at the elbow, and clutched his fist. It was clear sign for the group to stop. He threw a glance back and saw Jade give him permission to check it out. With Alec at his side, the two men strode cautiously onwards.

The two moved slowly on, coming to a stop at the end of the alley. Irving leaned his head out and saw only an empty street. Well, empty as in nothing living was around. There were plenty of dead though. Both the bodies of the various civilians, a few alliance soldiers and even a few of the invaders were scattered around.

Carter cursed under his breath. Irving ignored him and motioned for the rest of his party to follow. Each came out of the alley with some equal array of disgust and shock etched across their faces.

Sarah had never witnessed carnage like this before. In fact, save for the various training exercises during the N program she had never really been in a battle before. Before that day she had only fired her weapon four times in anger. The first was back on Elysium. She had been jumped by a couple guys who wanted more than the loose credits in her pocket. Using her biotics she immobilized one and stole his handgun. The other scumbags had either a knife or a lead pipe. The cowards ran when she fired at them. The other times were during her training.

"Who slaughters innocent people like this?" she asked.

"Don't rightly know ma'am and frankly I don't care," Irving said probably sounding more like an ass than he meant to, "we can't do anything more for these people so I suggest moving out."

Carter balked at this, "What do you mean, we have to do something!"

Wolfe wasn't in any mood for the young man's outburst and his follow up comment probably showed that, "look around sergeant. These people are dead. Now you can stay and give each one the proper burial they may or may not deserve but frankly I'm more concerned with keeping my brother and I alive."

Carter pondered this for a moment before sadly hanging his head in defeat. He knew everything Irving had just told him but probably only needed someone to remind him of it. It didn't make him feel any better about the situation but then again he could be of more use to those still breathing.

"Lieutenant! We have a survivor here!" one of the marines, Dowell, cried out.

The rag-tag group charged over to where the marine was crouched and saw him, with his omni-tool out, scanning a man who looked to be in his forties. The guy's entire midsection was covered in entry holes. It was a miracle he was still alive.

The man's eyes were wide in fright and shock. His mouth was constantly moving, uttering complete gibberish.

"What do we do ma'am?"

Jade stared at the man with sympathy. Inside she was fighting what she knew she had to do and what she wanted to do. She wanted to get this poor man somewhere safe, possible get him medical treatment. Despite her claims, Alicia admitted that her study in the field of medicine was academic at best. As such, that option was a no-go. The only other option, the most logical, was to leave him behind and grant him the mercy of a quick death. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on perspective, she never got a chance to decide.

The entire group stood there waiting for Jade to make a decision when Irving heard the man utter one word before his wounds claimed his life.

"…T-trap…"

His head snapped upwards as a grenade came sailing over head.

"Grenade!" Wolfe yelled trying to alert his comrades to the explosive.

Everyone, upon realizing that a grenade was sailing their way, acted differently. Jade, her inexperience causing a moment of indecision was the first to move. Carter, instead of moving, grasped his sister and activated something on his omni-tool. Irving watched as his shields shimmered brightly and recognized a fortification command instantly. Dowell, Franklin, and Collin however, each watched as the grenade landed close by and stared with wide eyes.

Irving felt his adrenaline pump wildly and let his instincts take over. He dove for Collin just as the grenade went off. He felt the shrapnel burn into his exposed side as it bypassed his shields. His armor prevented any fatal injures but it hurt nonetheless. He was similarly relieved to see Collin unharmed.

Franklin managed to survive but was blinded by the explosion. Dowell had the honor of having half his head explode apart and the gravely injured man that put them in that position, unintentionally of course, was reduced to bits of meat and bone.

Instantly, almost as if waiting for the grenade to go off, almost every surrounding building lit up with gunfire. Bits of concrete and dirt flew upwards at every impact point. Everyone was scrambling to find some sort of cover although they were taking fire from every side.

"Contact! Find some shade!" yelled Jade as she dove for cover along with every one else.

Irving tried to ignore his mind as it tired to convince him on how fucked they all were and instead chose to raise his rifle and return fire. Carter, who was sharing the same cover as he was, saw this and switched over to his N7 Valiant sniper rifle. For every six shots Irving fired, three bursts due to the Valkyrie's three round burst capability, Carter would send another abomination to its grave.

As Irving went to reload he saw Jade as she struggled to get to Franklin who was thrashing on the ground yelling that he couldn't see. His thrashing ended when a cannibal lit up his entire body with seven precise shots.

Meanwhile, Alicia had erected a barrier that consumed both her and Collin which surprised Irving since he had no idea that she was a biotic. He did notice that she was untrained due to the fact that she was sweating profusely and her barrier was slowly retracting in size.

Ignoring this for now, the scarred marine turned back and resumed fire. However every time he would stand to shoot he could feel several shots ping off his shields.

"We can't keep this up gunny!" yelled Carter.

Irving nodded in agreement, wondering slightly if the blonde was semi-telepathic. It seemed as if the buildings themselves were firing down on them. Even Jade's biotics couldn't help them despite the fact she was throwing warps like a crazed person.

Acting on impulse, Irving took a few glances at his surrounding, looking for any avenue of escape. He did spot a nearby alley but felt crestfallen when he saw that the path was covered by debris.

"Carter, can you get me an exit down that alley?"

Carter took a second to find said alley and nodded, taking off as if the devil himself was hot on his heels. Despite the covering fire Irving was providing for him, rounds danced all around Alec as he charged forward. Before reaching the alley, he grabbed a grenade from his belt and tossed it into the closest window he could see that had a hostile raining down fire. The following explosion muffled the inhuman scream of pain. With the biggest threat dealt with he pounced onto the debris and began to tear at with his hands. He dug only for a few seconds before unclasping something from his belt and placing it in the hole he had created. He then turned and ran before sliding back into cover.

"What was that?!" Irving yelled over the gunfire. He was interrupted when he felt something slam next to him. Looking over he could see a crazed looking Jade.

"Gunny, you got an extra clip?" she asked.

Irving didn't answer her with words but responded by pulling a spare thermal clip from his belt and tossing it to her. Irving turned back to Carter as Jade reloaded her Crusader. "Shaped charge sir, give it five more seconds and you have your exit!"

True to his word, the obstruction exploded in a show of light and heat. Jade gave the order and they moved out, keeping lowered heads lowered as to not get picked off. Before reaching safety, Jade ushered forth Collin and Alicia and was satisfied to see Collin ushering Alicia along, using his own body to protect her.

Finally they managed to cross into the alley but didn't stop running. Alicia took a moment to drop her barrier and nearly fell due to exhaustion before Collin caught her.

They were just about to break out into the adjacent street when a shadow passed over them. The entire group all looked up and their collective jaws dropped.

That was when Irving saw his first Reaper. He felt like an ant compared to this thing, it was that huge. Not even the tallest building could reach the part where its legs met the rest of its body.

Thinking back it was probably the fact that they were smaller than bacteria to it that saved their lives. It let out a loud mechanical roar and passed over them without incident, intent on burning something off in the distance with its laser.

"What the hell was that?!" exclaimed Carter.

Irving only shook his head and shuttered as a bead of cold sweat rolled down his face, probably a byproduct of the fear that seized his heart. Chances were that thing wasn't alone. If it wasn't… he was too afraid to think of the damage it could do if left unchecked. That was when Collin made a comment that cemented his fear further.

"Why aren't we seeing any ships or jets?"

Everyone looked at him for his meaning.

"Why haven't we seen one navy ship? Or one gunship besides the one that crashed outside the café? Where the hell is the military?"

No one had an answer and that scared them all equally.

_**Author's Note  
So I extended the fight scene on both parts, threw in some extra details and what a few characters were thinking. Not bad. Let me know if there is anything I can do to improve it though.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

For your information the warning before every chapter is so I don't have to change the rating from T to M. This mainly is for future chapters but is still relevant for now.

*This chapter, up until the story arc's conclusion will all be revised. This was formally chapter two but has now been slated for three. Every chapter from this point on, that had already been written, will be revised like this.

Since I haven't done this since chapter one, Bioware and EA own all.

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**Vancouver Megacity  
United North American States  
Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

To say Irving Wolfe was aggravated would be the understatement of the century. What was supposed to be a simple trot down a couple blocks turned into one giant escape and evade maneuver that forced the entire group to practically circle around their original route. To cement this he could almost hear Jade snidely saying, _I told you so_.

There were several reasons for this. The first being the ridiculous amount of husks and cannibals roaming around and patrolling the streets. A few times they had to actually stop and seek refuge, waiting for each group to pass them by as to not repeat their earlier move of getting caught in the open.

For Wolfe, this was the type of situation he thrived in; sneaking behind enemy lines, evading large clusters of enemies and killing the stragglers to reach his objective. It was the first time however that he was forced to do this with more then two people. But most of the time, much to the dismay of his CO, Irving Wolfe would head off alone. It was only irony that made his last name Wolfe. Fate would have been crueler if his first name was Lone.

The second reason was that the giant hulking machines were everywhere. In the distance they covered from the position in the Alley, Irving had counted no less than twenty of the massive machines. Some were far off, others… not so much.

The third and final reason for the group's scenic detour was that every building was damaged in some way or another. Some were even toppled over completely, littering the streets with debris and making them impassable. Others were simply obliterated and only a few nameless walls covered in bullet holes and exposed rebar remained.

Irving, along with Jade, the Carter siblings and Collin, soon found themselves inside some shop waiting for a patrol of cannibals to move on. Irving was situated behind a table that was laying on its side, his rifle pointed towards the storefront in caution. Alec was in a similar state next to him but was occasionally glancing at his omni-tool; the orange glow thankfully not giving away their position. Jade, Alicia, and Collin were more towards the back, taking refuge behind the counter, waiting for the all clear.

After a few minutes the abominations moved on, drawn by the sounds of gunfire that didn't seem too far off.

As one, they all let out a collective breath of relief when the cannibals vacated the area. Jade rose from her cover and made her way towards Alec and Irving. Her demeanor from earlier had changed however. She could feel the exhaustion seeping through her more rapidly than before. She feared that she may have over done herself in the last fight but it was necessary. It was either live and be exhausted or die and be, well, dead. Naturally Jade chose the former rather than the later.

"Sergeant, what's our position?" she asked as she drew nearer.

Alec gave one final look at his omni-tool before shutting it down and rising to meet his superior, "We're close but unfortunately we need to keep heading west for a couple more blocks before we can turn back south. Then we just have to back track and we're golden."

Jade nodded, "Good, how's every one looking on ammo?"

"I'm good," replied Alec.

"Fine," Irving grunted, keeping an ever alert gaze out the front of the store.

"I could use one please," asked Alicia with something akin to a whimper.

"I'm alright," clarified Collin.

Jade quickly handed her a clip and instructed Collin to teach her how to reload, while sending Alec to search for anything useful in the back storeroom. After, she approached Irving by the front, joining him in his vigilant search for anything amiss.

"Are you sure your team is still alive?" Jade asked me away from the ears of the others.

Irving turned to fully address her, "positive ma'am. If you can believe it we've been through worse."

"Really?" Jade asked disbelievingly.

Irving chuckled when the fond memory surfaced, although at the time it wasn't fond in the slightest.

"Yeah, there was a batarian slaver base out in the Traverse that we took out. The nine of us against a couple hundred armed and pissed off slavers. Getting the mission done wasn't hard it was getting out. We got discovered as we began to head back to the evacuation point. We spent the next week evading the slavers through one of the worst monsoons I've ever witnessed."

Jade didn't answer; she merely waited for her fellow N7 to continue.

Irving shrugged, "the point is ma'am, they're tough. These things are easy to kill. So long as they got the supplies a team of N7s can hold out for weeks, maybe months."

Jade nodded and looked over her shoulder at Alec, Alicia and Collin who were all rummaging through the store, looking for anything that could help.

"So," Sarah began, "any theories on what these things are yet?"

Irving shook his head, "no. But this I do know. Shoot them, they die. Stab them, they die. Slap their ass with a warp," he said jokingly, referring to his and Jade's first meeting, "they die. They took us by surprise lieutenant. That won't happen twice."

Jade seemed bolstered by his words and ordered the group to move out, putting both Alec and Irving on point while she took up the rear, keeping Alicia and Collin in the middle.

They moved down the long stretch of damaged infrastructure at a relatively even pace. Their eyes scanned everything and everywhere, looking for any way that the creatures could possibly ambush them.

Looking back, Jade should have noticed that they weren't shot at once as a sign. No civilians fleeing, no hostiles, no machines… nothing. Save for the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire, the street was calm. And as a soldier that worried her.

As they continued, Irving would eventually be loath to admit that his head wasn't completely in the game. He kept on thinking of what Collin had brought up earlier. If earth was truly under attack where was the goddamn military? Where was the navy? Where were the marines or the UNAS army? Where the hell was everyone?

There was no way they _all_ got wiped out. There is just no conceivable way that there was no defense being set up somewhere.

Irving was in a war of attrition in his mind right then. His logical side voiced that there were others and he simply hadn't run into them yet. His paranoid side, the one that had kept him alive all this time, voiced that if they were alive, surely he would have seen something.

In the Vancouver Megacity, there were two Alliance Infantry Regiments, two artillery divisions, and a tank brigade. Not to mention the several bases that housed the various branches of the UNAS military. Overall there were several thousand soldiers in this city alone. Each one was given a section of the city to monitor along with the Vancouver Police Department. Judging from that and the fact that the group had crossed half a district without running into one squad or platoon was worrisome. Maybe those giant machines really did killed most of the military…

Irving was so lost in thought that he almost didn't see Alec as he motioned for the group to stop. He had heard something and his helmet covered dome was craned towards the sky as if somehow that would amplify his hearing. Keeping her head low, Jade made her way towards them.

"What's the skinny?" she asked.

"I… I don't know," Alec mumbled, "I heard something. It was faint but I definitely heard something."

Jade glanced at Irving, "Chief?"

Wolfe Shrugged, "I didn't hear anything," he said, omitting the fact that he wasn't paying as much attention to his surroundings as he should have been.

Jade sighed, "Alright, stay frosty and keep your ears open."

The two answered in the affirmative and continued on. They barely made it five feet before Alec stopped them again.

"Did you hear that man? Tell me I ain't going crazy."

Whatever Carter was hearing Irving wasn't, "I don't-"

Suddenly Wolfe snapped his gaze to the left. That time he had heard it… whatever it was. It sounded something like metal screeching on metal but it was so faint that Irving was actually surprised Carter had heard it to begin with. But then again, Alec most likely had auditory enhancers inside that helmet of his which made Irving long for his own that much more.

He looked over his shoulder and motioned for Jade to come forwards. When she arrived, she was holding her Crusader at the ready and carrying a slightly annoyed look on her face.

"What's going on chief? We can' keep getting delayed like this."

"I heard something, coming from the east. It doesn't seem to be too far away. I'm going to check it out with Alec. I suggest taking cover until our return."

"And what if you don't?"

Irving smiled, "get Collin and Alicia out of here. Link up with Sabre. They'll get you someplace safe."

After receiving the go ahead from Sarah, Alec and Irving crossed the street quickly and quietly. They then entered into a house that looked like it had been cut right in half.

"Explosives didn't do this," commented Alec.

Irving's confused expression made Carter go into further depth, "if an explosive did this, the damage would be formed in some sort of radius. No, this house was cut by something hot. Like, really hot. Hot enough to melt anything it touched."

Irving shuddered at the prospect of that and what happened to the owners. But then he quickly realized that they probably got killed instantly and frankly that's best, all things considered.

"Forget it, let's move," ordered Wolfe and the two continued on their way.

They passed through, albeit difficultly due to the amount of destruction, and made their way to the backyard. What they saw answered a lot of Irving's questions.

The ten foot tall structures were arranged in seven neat rows with each row containing ten structures each. Looking to his left and right, Irving could see similar groupings all down the street.

Irving walked up to the nearest one and just stared at it. He first encountered them on Eden Prime, when his unit was slated to be one of many that cleaned up the colony of any remaining geth. The marines groundside and the survivors of the attack had only one name for them, which also answered Alec's obvious question before he could even ask it.

"Dragon's Teeth," Irving muttered in both disgust and awe.

Alec turned towards him, "what the hell are dragon's teeth."

Irving let his hand slide down the long metal spike that jettisoned from its tripod base, feeling the smooth and yet subtly sharp texture.

"We found them on Eden Prime after the geth attack. We had thought they were of geth design but…"

"So we're fighting geth?"

"No."

Alec just stared at the monstrosities. His mouth opened and closed rapidly as if he was struggling to find the words to express what he was thinking. Irving had a similar reaction upon seeing them the first time himself.

"Come on, we need to move."

Alec rounded on his fellow marine, barely keeping himself from punching the guy right in his face, "Don't act like this doesn't bother you!" he shouted pointing to a cluster of dragon's teeth that where occupied with people ranging from twelve to eleven.

Irving didn't respond right away, looking at one that all too closely resembled his sister-in-law, "It does kid, but I can't let it dictate how I act. Of course this bothers me and don't assume otherwise. It's just I, well it doesn't matter. We need to get back. We've lost enough time already."

Without sparing the structures another glance, Irving turned and walked away, stopping at the last second.

"Use this kid. Use the anger and disgust as armor so your enemies can't use it against you. Do that and you'll be able to handle just about anything."

Without another word, Irving walked away. Alec took one last look before following, thinking deeply about what Irving had said and whether or not to follow his advice.

XxxxxX

It was the sounds of nearby explosions, screaming, and gunfire that had turned the group's cautious pace into a full out sprint. They rounded a corner and saw a massive surge of civilians, of all types, running towards them.

"Where do we go?! Where do we go?!" yelled an older man carrying an unconscious child in his arms.

"Johnny? Where's my Johnny?" exclaimed a frantic old lady as she searched the crowd for the familiar face of her grandson.

"It's over man! Game over!" cried some raggedy man who was curled up off to the side, his eyes wide in fear.

The panic was clear, everyone running in the opposite direction of the explosions. Each one of them wanted to stay and help but they all knew that they had other priorities. They began moving through the fleeing crowd, doing their best to not get trampled.

At one point, Sarah saw an elderly couple begging a little girl to come with them. The girl however was adamant that her father was just around the corner getting her brother. When Sarah saw the old man, much to his displeasure of stopping, pick the girl up in his arms, she almost broke ranks to help. It was then however that the girl's father arrived and claimed his daughter before the four of them took off with the other civilians.

Once they turned another corner, the five of them found themselves at the rear of a massive defensive line.

A large group of alliance marines and UNAS army troopers were facing off against one of the giant machines. The marines and troopers were being supported by six Mako Infantry Fighting Vehicles and a couple Hammerhead Tanks. They had also erected a make-shift barrier from the concrete of a nearby building to set up a few heavy machine guns.

The opposition was being flanked by Cannibals and husk that numbered in the hundreds. The husks were charging the marine's line with reckless abandon and were being cut down in the dozens by the heavy machineguns.

A few Trident Interceptors streamed overhead and launched their payloads into the advancing enemy. Hundreds of missiles streamed overhead, their explosions dotted the machine leviathan but it barely did anything besides turn its already dark hull and shade darker.

Almost in response the leviathan roared and let loose with its main weapon as it strode forward. A red beam cut through the air and tore right into a Mako causing it to explode instantly.

The group charged forward, passing the dying and wounded, ready to lend a hand where ever possible. As they ran forward, Alec heard a marine give a report to another who was holding a comm.

"No effect on target. I repeat no effect."

"Roger," the marine answered before turning to his comm., "no effect on target, how copy?"

The young marine was cut off when a much older and gruffer marine snatched the comm. out of his hand.

"Son, you get those goddamn tridents to turn back around and launch another salvo. Our mission is to delay the enemy until the civilians can be properly evacuated. Now you tell them to keep firing until they find themselves standing before the almighty. Now get on it!"

"Yes sir!"

Proudly, despite the imminent death that awaited them, Alec saw several more Makos, Hammerheads and even a few Grizzlies approach the battle from behind, their cannons already firing as fast as their rounds can be loaded.

To his left, the blonde N7 saw a marine point to the sky, alerting his comrades to the fleet of Mantis gunships that had arrived. They hovered over the battlefield as they launched everything in their arsenal into the giant machine. A man made fog began to cover the battle field, caused by the smoke form the explosions, the many fires raging around, and all the dirt and dust kicked up into the air from the all the rounds flying around.

"Hoorah! Get some marines!" Carter heard someone yell. The amount of firepower made him both smile and cringe with fear. The barrage that was being sent did nothing but make the machine's shields flare.

Suddenly Alec realized that he was alone and searched for his comrades. He picked them out of the crowd easily and ran to catch up.

Irving marched through the back ranks almost oblivious to the rounds snapping off around him. As his Co so eloquently put it, it's not the ones that miss you that you have to worry about. It's the ones that don't. Ducking when you hear the whip-like crack of a round planting itself dangerously close to your head will make anyone duck, it was just instinctual. Irving would normally find cover, in order to present as little of a target as possible. But right now he was stubbornly glued to the officer holding the comm. before him.

As he approached he called her out, "Ma'am!"

The young scared shitless officer turned to the burly marine, "what the fuck are doing?! Get back on the line soldier!"

"Ma'am, I'm an N7, Sabre Unit. What the situation?"

The young woman looked at him for a moment before answering, "Pretty much FUBAR as of right now. We're throwing everything we have at this fucking thing and all we've succeeded in doing is giving it a new paint job. However, our orders state to hold our ground until the civilians can be evacuated."

"Where is everyone else?" asked Carter.

"Your looking at it. What you see here is the first and last line of defense. We were pretty much fucked before we even knew we were under attack."

"What about the 103rd in the market district?" inquired Jade.

"Wiped out more or less," was the curt reply.

"There's now way! No way 300 soldiers just get wiped out," Jade said in a fit of raging emotions.

"Trust me. I'm a communications officer from the on-oh-third. Two of those big bastards strode through and opened up on us," the officer replied wincing as a gunship exploded over our heads, "then they just left like we a fucking chore to deal with and let their infantry mop up anyone still breathing."

Sarah stepped back almost as she were physically slapped. She had only been with the 103rd for two years but she had made many friends. Even her instructor, Major Lyonhart was with them. If what this officer said was true than in all likelihood he was dead.

Alec felt his sister let go of his hand, which she had previously been holding with a near dead man grip. He looked back to see her conversing with Collin who was strapping himself up with an Avenger an several Thermal Clips.

'_Bout time the guy did something_, Alec thought before turning back to the conversation before him.

"Are there any more N7s like me around?" Irving asked sternly, grasping the officer's attention.

She stared at him in thought for a moment before nodding, "yes actually. They passed through not ten minutes ago, went to get some civilians trapped in that office building there," she said pointing to an office building that just so happened to be smack dab in the center of no man's land.

"Thank you," he said before walking towards the front line.

"Wolfe!" cried Jade, "Wolfe! What are you doing?"

"Linking up with my team," Irving answered honestly, "you're welcome to join me but if you don't want to then I won't hold it against you."

He looked over his shoulder at jade when he suddenly realized someone was missing.

"Collin? Collin!"

No answer, "has anyone seen Collin?"

Irving looked around at Alec and Sarah's faces but they seemed as surprised as Irving was by Collin's disappearance. However it was Alicia who looked like she knew something. As Irving approached her, she broke eye contact and shuffled towards the protection of her older brother.

"Alicia…"

"He made me promise not to tell."

"Where is he," Wolfe snarled.

"He made me-"

"Where is he!" he shouted at the girl. Irving was in no mood for politeness. Collin was his one and sole responsibility. He was relying on Irving and the N7 wasn't about to let someone relying on him suffer. Not again.

"Dude, maybe you should back off," confronted Alec as he made his way between Irving and Alicia.

"Get out of my way Carter. What if it was Alicia?"

Alec stared at him confrontationally for a moment before turning to his sister.

"Tell him."

Alicia stole a glance at before returning her gaze to the ground, "he said something about his wife and child and that he wasn't going to leave them behind. That's all I know I swear."

Irving uttered a long string of several different curses in that moment. Irving understood why Collin would think of his family before himself. But what Irving didn't understand was why Collin would think that his family was still alive. Had he not been paying attention to anything that has been happening?

Without saying another word, Irving stalked off towards the front line. Everything depended on reaching Sabre. With them he could find his brother and help coordinate a real defense or at least give the regular marines something to fight back with. Jade, Alec and, Alicia were hot on his heels.

As they grew closer, they were forced to begin darting from cover to cover, doing their best to ignore the alarming amount of blood and gore from the various dead littered around. Another obstacle was the tanks. Whenever the machine opened up with its laser cannon, a tank would explode knocking anyone nearby off their feet and raining down debris on anyone caught within the explosion's radius.

"Tell me what you're thinking chief," asked Jade.

Irving took a quick glance at the patch of no man's land that had formed between the front line and his objective. He weighed the risks and options before turning to Sarah.

"I say we make a mad dash for the front door, kill anything in our way, and stop for nothing. I'll take point. Alec, you and your sister take the middle and Jade, you take the rear guard. How's that sound?"

Jade thought it through for a moment, "We'll be sitting ducks."

"Then run fast."

Carter turned to his sister who was growing more fearful by the second and after hearing Irving's plan for herself, was on the verge of cutting tail and running in the opposite direction. But she knew what the options were and judging from the looks on the faces of the marines and troopers assembled, they knew it too.

Staying with this mixed company of marines was a death warrant. It was only a matter of time before that giant decided to stop playing around and actually bulldoze through the line. After all, she heard like everyone else what happened to the 103rd and that was almost 300 marines. Here, there was barely a hundred and fifty.

Finally, after receiving assurances from her brother that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, Alicia agreed. With the small group all in agreement, the moved from cover to cover until they were sitting on the very edge of the line. Beside him, a heavy machinegun was going off, nearly blowing Irving's eardrum. Once again he ached for his helmet.

"Check weapons and shields," ordered Jade as they prepared themselves from the inevitable plunge into the face of death itself.

"We do this my way," Irving informed, "one speed, mine. Trail behind or get hit and you're on your own," he informed his little team. Memories of Torfan and landing planetside flooded his consciousness. There would be no room to slow down or take cover. It would be a straight shot. They'd either make it or die horribly. Those were the options.

Jade, along with the Carter siblings nodded in agreement. However, Jade was beginning to grow annoyed with Wolfe taking the reigns with everything. The only reason she didn't say anything before was due to the fact that the marine made sure to consult her before any decision. She understood that he had a decade of experience on her and that was the only reason she decided to keep quiet about it.

Irving rolled on his side to the guy operating the HMG.

"Hey buddy, we need to get to that building over there," he said pointing to the office building, "think you can give us some covering fire?"

The marine glanced at Irving, then at the office building, then at Irving again, "You're bloody insane, you know that? Alright, you'll get your sodding covering fire, just move your arse!"

Irving nodded and gave his thanks, rolling back to his team.

As they all mentally prepared themselves, Irving slowly counted down from three inside his head. Once he hit zero, he stood and jumped over the cover in one fluid motion. Instantly he was met with several shots glancing off his armor but thankfully his shields held. He didn't bother looking back to see if the others were following.

Lucky enough, Wolfe had the foresight to have his Crusader equipped. When the first husk appeared, he barely even aimed before one of the heavies tore it apart. Thank god for that.

A pair of cannibals suddenly appeared from some store front. Irving didn't know if they could be surprised but the creatures hesitated long enough for the N7 to end them quickly with two shots from his shotgun.

Someone grunted behind him but Irving ignored it. He had to. If he took his eyes off the objective or slowed down for even a fraction of a second, he would be dead. And that was not on Irving Wolfe's to do list.

A grenade suddenly came sailing through the air, unknown to Wolfe as he charged forward. It detonated somewhere to the right of him. He felt the heat from the explosion and was aware of the shards of shrapnel flying in a perfect radius around it. His arm, going by instinct, had gone up to shield his face as to prevent anything happening to his already scarred up mug. The force is what made him barely loose his footing, enough that he saw Alec ushering along Alicia who had erected a barrier around the two of them.

Wolfe quickly regained his footing but almost fell again when a round hit him smack dead in the chest. It felt like he had run straight into a brick wall. Miraculously he was able to stay upright and continue his suicidal charge.

Somehow he made it to the office building but was forced to slide under a husk that came flying out the front door. He stood and locked eyes with Alicia who was lowering her arm and cooling down her biotics.

"Where's the lieutenant?"

Irving looked behind him and sure enough, Sarah Jade was not present. Taking cover in the door frame whilst flinching from a stray round that smacked into the wall above his head, Irving peered out into the street.

He noticed two things instantly.

The first was that the giant machine was done playing around and began to advance more adamantly towards the marine's front line. A few began to try and run for it but were cut off as another giant appeared behind them. With their pincer move completed they wasted no time in slaughtering any marine or civilian caught in their web.

The second thing he noticed was Sarah Jade. She was huddled behind some piece of concrete that was just large enough to fit her body behind. She was exchanging fire with a group of cannibals and husks that were slowly but surely gaining on her position.

Irving looked over at Alec who hung his head slightly, "One speed gunny," he reminded.

Irving knew he was right. Going out there who be as if he put a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. Once again the two sides of Irving's mind were fighting for control. One side said to let her die. Saving her would only make Irving himself dead and there would have been no point in the end. The other side replied that he should simply remember Torfan and how his savior was in a similar position and still chose to save Irving's ass in the end.

"Damn it," Irving cursed under his breath.

"Give me your pistol," Wolfe commanded Alicia while he took off his own and placed them reverently on the ground before turning to Alec, "You any good with that?"

Alec glanced to the sniper on his back, "Yeah… what are you thinking?"

Irving pumped a fresh clip into the pistol, "I need you to give me covering fire. Anything that so much as looks in my direction you kill it. Alicia will watch your back with her biotics; make sure nothing sneaks up on you."

Alec shook his head as he equipped his sniper, "No offense against the El-Tee, but this is stupid."

"I know," Irving said softly, waiting as Alec took out a husk that was creeping up on Jade's blind side.

"Hoo-fucking-rah!" Irving exclaimed as he charged out the door. As the bullets and rockets and grenades sailed past, nothing was louder than Irving's brain screaming…

_You're a dumbass. You're a dumbass. You're a dumbass._

Irving was inclined to agree.

Although he would never say it to his face, fearing what might happened to the lad if his ego ever got any bigger, the other reason that Irving Wolfe did not die that day was because of Carter's amazingly precise sniper shots. Every time Irving's shields would flare, Carter would respond by blowing the offending creature's head clean off.

That's not to say Irving didn't get a few licks in himself. He mostly concentrated on the husks though. All it would take was a lucky shot to the head and the husk would be dead. Cannibals were more resilient, especially those that had previously fed.

Somehow, Wolfe managed to reach Jade and slide into cover next to her. She was bleeding, rather badly at that, with a wound to her leg. Her eyes were half closed but that didn't stop her from pulling the trigger on hr already overheated weapon.

Irving wasted no time in snatching up a medi-gel syringe from his own first aid kit and injecting it into the wound. The color instantly returned to her face and she became more aware with each passing second.

"One speed chief?" she joked weakly.

"Thank me later," Irving replied as he waited for his shields to recharge. He took this little rest period in slapping in a clip into his pistol. He managed to sneak a glance over the cover and saw that the giant machine was moving on. However, that meant that the Cannibals and Husks were now advancing, ready to clean up any one left over.

Irving ignored the screaming from the marines and troopers once their line was overwhelmed and hefted Jade onto his shoulder, brandishing Alicia's pistol and killing the first two overconfident husks that appeared.

Carrying somebody, while running, and while trying to avoid gunfire and explosions is not an easy task. Eventually, a lucky grenade killed his shields and a round passed easily into his side. Irving fell to one knee as another cemented itself into his shoulder pad. It didn't penetrate but he still felt the impact. He defiantly rose, knowing that if he spent any more time here he and Jade were dead.

When he finally reached the safety of the office building, he had to hop over the ring of dead husks that Alec and Alicia had to contend with. With the rest of the horde pushing towards their direction, there was no time for rest.

Irving quickly ordered Alicia and Alec up the nearby stairs although Irving reach them first. When he did, he found himself staring down the barrel of an M55 Argus.

"Well, well, well… Irving Wolfe," the owner chuckled, "it's about time your gringo ass got here."

_**Author's Note  
So once again, this chapter got revised. The biggest thing being the revised depot battle and the exchange between Irving and Alec near the Dragon's Teeth. Let me know you thoughts and if anyone's got any advice for improvements, hit me up.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

Thank you very much for everyone who follow, favorite, and reviewed this story. Your input is very much appreciated.

*This chapter, up until the story arc's conclusion will all be revised. This was formally chapter two but has now been slated for three. Every chapter from this point on, that had already been written, will be revised like this.

Because I lost a high stakes poker game everything Mass Effect is owned by Bioware and EA.

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Vancouver Megacity  
United North American States  
Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

"Well, well, well… Irving Wolfe," the owner chuckled, "it's about time your gringo ass got here."

Instead of flinching or diving for cover, like a normal person would when they have a gun shoved in their face, Irving smiled. The owner of the Vindicator lowered his weapon and widened their grin.

"Seriously _hijo_, what took you so long? One second you're at the base, the next you're gone."

Irving decided to keep the story short, "went to lunch with Collin, got jumped by hostiles, met some people, killed some things, ended up here," he muttered.

The owner chuckled, "that sounds like an understatement."

"It is. Can we move now? I'm wounded and I got an injured person with me," Irving urged, Sarah's dead weight biting into his shoulder.

"Alright, alright, follow me," the man with the gun said with a chuckle.

The man led the three of them up the stairs.

"Where's the rest of us," Irving asked with his teeth grinding together.

"Top floor."

All this time, Alec had been keeping a watch on the door, ready to end the life of whatever walked through the entrance. So far, most of the hostiles had been passing the building by, heading for the former depot to join in the fun of killing any living humans.

But a few were beginning head their way now. So far, Alec only counted ten; six husks and four cannibals. Nothing too major, but in all likelihood they were scouts. If those scouts alerted the rest of the hoard… N7 or no, they would be overrun.

"Not to interrupt the reunion here," Alec said calmly over his shoulder to the two men, "but we have incoming."

The gunman looked over with an almost bored expression on his face, "oh yeah, I nearly forgot about those _pendejos_. I figured they'd crash the party sooner of later. Don't worry its being handled."

Once again the man motioned for the small party to follow him. Thankfully, for Irving at least, they didn't have to climb all 40 flights of stairs as the man led them into a still operating elevator. It was surprisingly roomy, able to fit all four of the still walking humans, enough to set Jade down and give her space, and enough for the two dancing krogans that, while no doubt a hallucination, were becoming more and more disturbing to Irving as time went on. Blood loss was starting to seep in, or out depending on perspective, and Irving needed to act.

"Anyone have any medi-gel? I'm all out."

Alicia came forward immediately, "here, I still have a couple I managed to grab before we left the marines."

A quick application of the miracle drug and the krogans disappeared. Irving breathing returned to normal and the grim reaper was forced to wait another day to claim the elusive human.

After finally stopping the bleeding, for now, Irving kneeled down next to Sarah to recheck her wound. The lieutenant wasn't in pain anymore, that much was obvious, and the wound thankfully didn't re-open, but she was still barely conscious. That worried Irving more than the gunshot wound. She could have had some internal bleeding which was much worse. Or maybe a concussion. Irving didn't have a clue, there was a reason why he wasn't a medic.

Wolfe's train of thought was interrupted when the group's savior pulled out a small cylindrical detonator, flipped off the cap, and pushed down on the pulsating red button.

The entire team heard the explosion which caused the whole elevator to shake. Alec grabbed onto the railing in a brief panic, as if that would somehow save him if the elevator plummeted down to the bottom of the shaft.

Once he recovered he turned to the still grinning gunman, "so who are you exactly?"

The man let out a curse in Spanish, chastising himself for his forgetfulness, "_Lo siento_, _mi amigo_… my name is Operations Chief Manny Garcia, executive officer of N7 team Sabre."

Alec stared at the Columbian native for a moment before regaining his composure, "the name's Alec, Alec Carter. This is my sister Alicia."

"Hello," Alicia greeted, glad to be joined by another N7.

Manny glanced over at Alicia with a gleam in his eyes that Irving was all too familiar with. Shore leave on Illium came flooding back to the scarred marine's consciousness.

"Don't think about it sir," Wolfe warned with a chuckle.

Manny looked at Irving with a mock pout, "No fun Wolfe, no fun at all."

Manny then turned to Sarah, his tone more serious, "Is she stable?"

"Yeah, I think…"

"I'm sure Blackburn can take a look at her when we get up there," Manny informed him.

"Yeah, maybe he could treat her for shock," Irving commented.

"Leave it the past, Irv. He's different now. Besides, we were all green once, even you," Manny said casually but sounded more like an order. Irving decided to stay quiet.

They spent the next couple of minutes in silence. It was interrupted abruptly with Irving groaning loudly.

"God, I hate elevators."

Manny laughed, "I know, why you think we're in one?"

Irving glanced at his superior, idly wondering what his face would look like if Wolfe just shot him then and there. Instead he opted for a simple, "you're an asshole… sir."

Another couple minutes went by, this time Irving was watching the floor counter with near predatory eyes.

"Make it go faster," he urged Manny, borderline whining.

"No way. Besides, what can a simple soldier like me do?"

"Make it go faster," Irving repeated with a lowered albeit deadlier tone of voice.

Manny took it stoically, knowing the N7 before all too well, "you wont do shit _hijo_. I know one thing that says you won't do it."

"Bullshit," Irving counted.

Manny and Irving stared at each other for another solid thirty seconds before Manny spoke up, "_Puesta de Amor_…"

Suddenly Irving's entire demeanor changed, almost as if he were physical struck. After a tense heartbeat of a moment, Irving and Manny both broke out laughing. The former forced to clutch his wound from the degree of hilarity the inside joke obtained.

"You… you are an unbelievable bastard!" Irving choked out.

Alec was deeply and understandably confused, "Wait, what's going on? What's Puesta de Amor?"

"Just a little colony-"

"-that you don't need to know about," Irving interrupted sternly. Alicia was a little disturbed by how fast Irving was able to change his mood. One second he was laughing uncontrollably, the next second he was borderline angry. It was weird. _He_ was weird.

Alec listened to the two bicker for a moment before something dawned on him.

"Oh, gunny, I forgot to mention I grabbed your weapons, here" he said presenting the marine with his Valkyrie and Crusader. Irving nodded his thanks and reverently placed them on their magnetic holsters after placing Jade's where belonged. Alicia smiled as she reluctantly took back her pistol.

With a ding, the elevator doors slide open

"_Top floor roof access… please mind the edge and enjoy your day_," said the elevator VI in a synthesized sing-song voice.

Irving quickly scooped up Sarah back onto his shoulder and followed Manny, Alec and Alicia outside.

The top of the office building was quite spacious. The elevator they had just disembarked from was located on the lower most level which was littered with ventilation shafts that rose about waist high and bulky air ducts.

"Blackburn is in the office area. Just take a right at the landing pad and another right. Head straight on and you're pretty much there," Manny instructed the small party.

"Thanks sir," Wolfe said respectfully.

"Oh, and watch out for the Master Sergeant. He said earlier he was going to quote… tan that yellow bellied bastard's hide so bad I'll turn him brown," Manny said in a broken southern accent that sounded borderline criminal when mixed with his own Spanish one.

Irving chuckled and walked on. As he approached the landing pad, a simple ten yard boxed area with the edge of the roof block by a metal grid fence, he saw two more operatives. One was the team sniper; the dark skinned English native Andrea Jackson, bracing her Mantis Sniper Rifle on the fenced edge. Right next to her, with a set of VI assisted binoculars pressed to his eyes and a scoped Mattock on his back was her spotter, Imam Farik, a denizen of the colony of New Mecca.

"Fire… fire… fire," Imam uttered before Andrea let loose with a deafening blast from her Mantis.

"Target down. Target acquired. Distance eleven hundred meters, wind speed 15km south by south west."

"Acquired," the sniper replied, applying the necessary changes to her scope.

"Fire… fire… fire," Imam said once again and was once again followed by a loud crack from Andrea's Mantis.

"Target down."

Irving smiled, remembering quite well how precise Andrea and Imam were at sniping and spotting. Both, before the mission could even start or for Irving to get in place, would take out the enemy's patrolling guards before anyone knew that they were about to be attacked. Both were huge assets to team Sabre.

Before continuing Alec noticed the prone and covered forms of several bodies. Red spots covered the orange tarps and random points.

"Who are they?" asked Alicia somberly.

"It doesn't matter, they don't care," Irving coldly replied.

"Wolfe! About time you arrived. Enjoy your scenic walk?" Jackson called out over her shoulder, not taking her eye off the scope.

Wolfe threw a smile and wave at Andrea before sharing nods with Imam. Continuing on their way, the three had to climb a small incline after passing by the landing pad. Irving nearly slipped on the smooth surface of the solar panels but Alec managed to brace Irving's back before he could fall. Irving gave his thanks and continued, passing into the upper area and a long L shaped vent and a massive boxed satellite dish that sported various bullet holes.

After the generator there was an indentation in the architecture. One side had a ladder that led up to the next level while the other was upward sloping path. The incline was different that last time. The last one was shorter yet steeper. This one, while still steep, was longer and elevated less.

Irving cursed as he treaded the left path up the new incline. Alec and Alicia, not being slowed by a person lying on their shoulders, opted for the ladder.

When Irving arrived at the top, huffing slightly, he saw his team's explosive expert, Silas McCullen, as he set up landmines, motion sensory grenades and other improvised explosives made from the various civilian appliances available.

He turned at the sight of the new arrivals, stepping directly in their path, namely Irving's.

"Wolfe. Where in the fecking hell have you been boyo?" Silas asked in his thick Irish accent. The man was probably the eldest out of all of us and yet was still in his prime.

"Sorry I'm late man but I got to drop my wounded off at Blackburn."

"Aye? And who are the regulars behind you?" Silas asked condescendingly towards the Carter siblings, using the term most N7s use to address the common rank and file.

"That's Alec Carter and his sister."

"And the lass in ye arms?"

"Lieutenant Sarah Jade, she's N7, one of us."

"Uh," Alec began, "I'm not a regular," Alec said, clearly offended by the comment and continued, "I'm N7 as well."

"Oh yeah?" asked Silas doubtfully as we began walking towards the nearby offices, "where's ye badge?"

"Didn't get one yet. I was supposed to have my formal ceremony tomorrow. I was just in Vancouver awaiting a shuttle to take me there."

Silas chuckled at that, "Seems like ol' Murphy had ye number."

"Murphy?" asked Alicia.

"Murphy's Law or Murphy's luck," Irving informed her, "either one basically means that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Superstitious bullshit really."

"Don't be taking shite about Murphy now Wolfe," Silas Interjected.

"Whatever, Silas."

McCullen chuckled and went back to his work. Alec briefly took the time to hand the Irishman any shaped charges or grenades he had left. Silas grabbed them hungrily, his mind already working a way to utilize them best.

Irving however was nearing the offices. Sadly only two rectangular rooms were left standing. The others were gone, leaving behind a couple charred remains. The left was being used by the scrawny corpsman, David Blackburn, who was sitting against the wall with a cigarette clutched between his pointer finger and his thumb. Nearby the desks had been repurposed into medical gurneys. Each one was occupied by either a dead civilian, covered in an orange tarp, or a dead marine. Blackburn was staring absently at one orange tarp in particular. The body underneath was far too small to be an adult. Irving immediately assumed it was some poor child who was either caught in the cross fire or gunned down mercilessly.

The room right next to Blackburn's was another office. This time the desks were knocked over onto their sides. The sides that faced away from the room were covered in scorch marks and bullet holes. It was still occupied however, by the last three members of team Sabre as they sat in a small circle either taking a smoke break or cleaning their weapons.

Blackburn, previously staring out into space, glanced up as Irving approached. He smiled in greeting but the man was rather worn out, mentally and physically. No matter what, either as a doctor or a field medic, when a patient dies you only blame yourself. Could I have done something different? Could I have done something more? That was all that was on David Blackburn's mind at that moment. He had lost every one of his patients that day so far. The civilians and the few soldiers here that tried and died defending them were overrun. There was nothing he could do.

_Nothing you do Davey…_

"Gunnery Chief," Blackburn said approach his colleague, "it's good to see you alive and well," Blackburn said commenting on Irving's wounds.

That was when he noticed the limp figure hanging over Irving's shoulder, "who's this?"

"Place her there," he said, pointing to what looked to be the only available space in the makeshift field hospital.

Irving did as instructed, placing Sarah down as carefully as he could. It was still not gentle enough though and Sarah made a small pained grunt when she was let down. Irving quickly got out of the way as Blackburn approached. The medic opened her eyelids and checked her pupils before scanning her with his omni-tool.

"What happened to her?" he asked.

"She got caught in the open, took a round to the leg," Irving replied.

"How much medi-gel did she get?"

Irving paused, "one dose I think."

"You think? What about what you know? I can't treat a patient if I don't known what's already in there. Now take a moment to think and tell me: how much medi-gel did she get?"

Irving scowled, "It was one," he said swiftly and confidently.

Blackburn nodded, "thank you," and continued to scan Sarah's unconscious form.

"Well, it seems like the round went through and through and it missed the femoral but that isn't the problem. Is she a biotic?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well biotic consume calories more rapidly. From my scan I can see that she hasn't eaten anything in almost twenty three hours. In all likelihood she woke up and instantly joined the fight."

"Will she be alright," Alec asked.

"Of course but we need to act now. All I need to do is pump some calories and vitamins into her system and she'll be as right as rain."

"Get it done then Blackburn," Irving said as he turned to leave.

"Wolfe," Blackburn said once more causing the marine to pause mid stride.

"Sorry for snapping… it's been an… eventful past couple hours."

Irving stood rigid; contemplating on responding but in the end opted for silence as he continued walking. As he rounded the corner into the next room, he nearly flinched when he came face to face with his superior.

Irving snapped into a salute, "Gunnery Chief Wolfe reporting-"

The backhand, which felt like a punch to Irving, connected with the side of Wolfe's head faster than a runaway train. Stars formed in the 29 year olds eyes for a moment before they returned to normal.

Standing before him was a six foot, four inches tall man decked out in heavy defender armor and, instead of wearing a helmet, had an old western cowboy hat on. A thick a rough ginger beard covered the bottom part of his face that was curled upward as the man snarled in Irving's direction. On the man's back were a M99 "Big Iron" Saber and an old and beaten up Crusader. The entire front face of his armor was covered in spare thermal clips and extra grenades. A wireless comm. set hung snugly against his left ear with a mouth piece jettisoning towards the man's lips.

"I told you Wolfe! I fucking told you that if you ever ran off again I was going to slap you silly. I ain't laughing so I think I need to continue!"

The man was going for another hit before stopping abruptly and simply placed a warm hand on Irving's shoulder. When he spoke it was soft and quiet, a sheer contrast from his previous state not ten seconds ago.

Gunner Haply stared right into Irving's eyes as he said, "Damn it I was worried sick. These things are everywhere ya know. With you missing and the comms all down… I assumed the worst."

"You know better than that sir," Irving replied trying to lighten the situation.

It had the desired effect when Haply began to chuckle, "yeah, yeah, yeah, keep talking. It seems the big bad Wolfe ain't down for the count yet. I wonder though? How can you walk straight with that giant horseshoe up yer ass?"

Irving smiled, "it's painful at first but you get used to it after a while."

Haply's right brow went skyward, "_Puesta de Amor_?"

Irving nodded, the smile getting bigger.

Alec and Alicia watched this all like a couple people watching a day time drama show. It was confusing as hell, made absolutely no sense and yet they couldn't turn away. Something about the situation caught their curiosity. Alec swore then and there that he'd find out what this… _Puesta de Amor_ was and why it was so goddamn funny. After all being on the outside of an inside joke wasn't fun. Not at all.

For Irving Wolfe, Master Sergeant Gunner Haply was the father he never had. Haply was just a platoon sergeant when the young fresh faced Irving Wolfe stumbled into his platoon. The guy was greener that a pasture at grazing time. Unlike most of the other NCOs in Howe Company, Haply saw his new arrivals as more than just meat shields for the more experienced men. He taught them everything he knew; what you needed when going out on patrol, exactly where the death switch was on a batarian, and other tricks the Texas native learned over his very long career in the Alliance.

Torfan changed all that. Howe Company was one of ten companies in the 15th Infantry Division. The fifteenth received the great honor of assaulting the entire northern flank by themselves with barely a paltry force of tanks and limited air support. On the first day three companies worth of marines were killed, their only achievement was securing the beachhead. The second day, with more reinforcement from the rest of the division, saw the lines push further south but only by a couple miles. The slavers and pirates that defended that god forsaken island were dug in tight. By that time, the casualties for the fifteenth doubled.

It was only until the third day did the fifteenth finally get some momentum. The lines were pushed until they completed their objective with linking up with the 7th Armored that was pushing from the east.

Haply remembered that day bitterly. One second he was congratulating the men on a job well done, the next, batarians bum rushed their position. Irving and the other members of his squad were captured although the rest of the platoon assumed they died.

The enemy ambush cut the 15th off from the 7th once again and nearly pushed them back to their original starting position. Thankfully Admiral Strum decided enough men died and began a week long bombing campaign.

Irving wasn't seen again for another two weeks, only two days after Major Kyle's suicide charge. The surviving members of H-Company stormed a batarian underground bunker complex; intent on weeding out the aliens entrenched there. To their surprise, they found Irving, standing over the dead bodies of his captors, with his face scarred, holding a Tempest in one hand and bloodied knife in the other. It wasn't until two years later did Haply finally learn what happened down there.

The month long battle would forever be etched on the memories and souls of those who fought there, human and batarian alike. Each carried scars given by the other. Haply was no different than Irving only that his scars were on the inside, not the outside.

Haply shook his head, clearing away the thought, realizing just how zoned out he was when he saw Irving had already moved on and sat himself next to the other two member of Sabre. The team's engineer was Specialist Roman Lienskov. He had a heavily modified Avenger as his weapon. His other weapon was his omni-tool, able to snap freeze targets or set them aflame. Even now the Russian marine was fiddling with some new program to increase the stopping power of his incinerate tech.

Seated right next to him was the team's heavy weapons specialist, Corporal Wilhelm Beghren. The German had a love for anything and everything that made large explosions or killed enemies in new and imaginative ways. Andrea once questioned the German's sanity, calling him a ticking tomb bomb just waiting to go category six. But after once instance, that involved her getting chased by a platoon's worth of geth infantry, she never questioned the man again after he killed them all with well timed and precise missiles and grenades from both his ML77 and his M100 grenade launcher.

However, times changed. Instead of his old ML77 and M100, the German now carried a M76 Revenant, the prototype Cobra missile launcher, and a M37 Falcon, which fires 25mm mini grenades with accuracy rivaling or even exceeding the M100. Since the Falcon uses a field fabrication kit to generate ammunition, thermal clips are all that is needed to fire the weapon, whereas the M100 needed the much rarer and bulkier 2nd generation heavy ammo.

Haply himself took a seat next to Lienskov and pulled a _Sweet Louie_ Cigar, lit it and took a few starting puffs before the end properly ignited. Alec nearly flinched when Haply looked directly at him, like he was being judged.

Haply stared at Alec for a few seconds before drifting his gaze elsewhere.

"So," he began, "who are the regulars?"

"He ain't a regular," corrected Irving, "He's N7, same with the wounded lieutenant Blackburn's working on. The girl's a civie and his sister."

"Well, where is his-" began Roman before he was cut off.

"-Badge? He didn't get inducted yet. All he had to do was sit through the ceremony and it was his. He's got skill though so it's legit."

Beghren smirked, "trust me kid, you are not missing much. Damn near fell asleep in my ceremony."

"Yeah and I kept having to wake this _dolbo yeb_ up," comment Roman, "What a pain in the ass you are."

Yeah whatever… hey Roman how about you go do something useful for a change like beat your little purple headed yogurt slinger?" retorted Wilhelm.

The entire ensemble shared a hearty laugh at the absurdity of Beghren's comment. When it finally died down, Irving was surprised to see Sarah approaching from Blackburn's own office.

"Lieutenant," he greeted the sluggish biotic.

"Hey Wolfe… what happened? One minute we were running, the next I was on the ground. Then I wake up here."

"You got shot ma'am," Alec informed, "the chief got you back and we linked up with Sabre."

Irving turned to his teammates, "everyone, say hello to Lieutenant Jade."

"Hello Lieutenant Jade," they all said at once making Sarah feel like she was being introduced at some support group.

Sarah glanced at each one in confusion before they all went around introducing themselves and the four of them not currently present.

"It's a pleasure," Sarah finally said turning to Haply, "what's the situation.

"Well," the Master Sergeant began, "the reapers have us boxed in. After that defensive line fell outside were trapped in the eye of the storm waiting for a transport to arrive from the SSV Elbrus."

Irving chimed in, "so we _are_ fighting reapers?"

"Wait, what? Reapers… they're real?" balked Alec, "I thought you said you didn't know who we were fighting."

"I didn't," Irving clarified, "but when I saw those dragon's teeth all I had to do was add and subtract."

"What's that mean?"

Wolfe sighed, looking over at Haply before the man nodded his head, "I told you that my unit, this unit, was slated for the Eden Prime clean up, right?"

The young man nodded.

"Well, the war against the geth didn't just stop there. We chased the flashlight heads all across the Traverse. But, on some remote worlds we found those Dragon's Teeth in places that the geth haven't been to and pre-dated their shut down of the Veil. When Commander Shepard took down the Collectors, a copy of the intelligence archives was sent to every species on the Council who then passed it down to their client races. Most met this with blind arrogance. But Hackett saw them himself and during a classified briefing that I'm not allowed to talk about, he passed it down to us. So when I said that I didn't know who was attacking before I was telling the truth. I only realized it was the Reapers when, like I said, I saw those Dragon's Teeth. After that the pieces began to fall in place and I arrived at my current conclusion."

Alec sighed loudly, "Great we're fighting reapers. When's the transport coming?"

Haply opened his omni-tool, "in about… ten minutes."

"A lot can happen in ten minutes," commented Irving.

"Oh shut up, before you jinx us," complained Beghren.

Alec however was busy staring off at the reaper filled horizon, watching as they marched forward, shrugging off the incoming fire like the rounds were made of tissue paper. So far he could see two types of reapers. One type kinda looked like the geth ship that attacked the citadel in '86. The other type was a more condensed version of the first but equally as dangerous. Everything he had heard about the reapers made no sense to him and yet there they were, burning his home world to the ground before his eyes. He glanced forlornly down at the Valiant in his arms.

_What the will this do against one of those?_ He thought. But he knew he was a soldier and those reaper troops could be killed easy enough so that'll do.

Alec watched as a Dreadnought lazily hovered into view over the Vancouver harbor. He recognized it as the SSV Elbrus, the Jewel of the Second Fleet. The young marine could see shuttles and fighters coming and going from its hanger bay as well as the ships Guardian Defense Lasers firing off into the city. Alec assumed the dreadnought was covering the shuttles as they evacuated as many people as possible.

The ground suddenly shook as a Sovereign-class Reaper landed nearby, within a hundred yards of the Elbrus. The dreadnought wasted no time in shifting its fire over to the new arrival and with a boom that could be heard for miles, the Elbrus sent a 20 kilo ferrous slug down range. The round impacted the reaper and sent its shield flaring madly. But then the reaper returned fire, damn near blowing half of the dreadnought's right fin off.

Once again, the Elbrus responded. This time the shuttles were outgoing, evacuating the clearly doomed alliance vessel. The mass accelerated round punched through the reaper's shields and struck the leviathan's armor. Depressingly it did practically nothing, even with the Elbrus' Guardian's firing off like some old sci-fi movie space battle.

The reaper's second beam attack hit the aft of the ship. Dark bellows of smoke began to rise until, in blinding flash of white light, the dreadnought's mass effect core exploded, showering anything nearby in debris.

What followed the light was the release of energy that was sent in a 360 degree radius. Anyone standing would have been thrown from their feet. Even the building the entire group was atop of swayed slightly from the force. In the distance, Alicia saw a couple building actually go down and feared their own would follow. But the building was strong and resisted, remaining upright.

"Well, that sucks," murmured Roman, rising to his feet.

"Do we have any other bright ideas?" asked an annoyed Irving .

"_Nien_, that vas our vay out," replied Wilhelm.

Haply thought for a moment before opening his omni-tool, "This is Master Sergeant Gunner Haply, N7 team Sabre One. Are there any other friendlies out there? We need extraction, coordinates follows," he finished, typing in their coordinates into his omni-tool.

There was no doubt in Irving's mind that reaper forces were going to hear that and he wasted no time in getting geared up. He stood up and trotted over to an ammo cache and restocked himself with extra clips and grenades.

The German heavy weapons expert shook his head, "putting it on a loop?" Gunner nodded, "Reapers are going to hear that."

Suddenly the entire team's comms began buzzing, _"Master Sergeant, we got hostiles on the roof!"_

Haply wasted no time, "That was quick… Jackson, Farik, Garcia, and McCullen, fall back to the offices. Silas, how are my explosives looking?"

"Its going to be like Christmas sir," replied the Irishman as he arrived.

"Good, finish up. Wolfe, take Beghren, and your two N7 comrades and head to the lower levels. Hold that flank. I'll send Manny over to assist when he gets here. The rest of us will hold this line."

"What about me?" asked Alicia.

"You are a noncombatant so you will stay off to the side with Blackburn," Gunner said strictly, "don't worry, he's tougher than he looks."

"So is she," Alec replied, "She's a biotic and a medic. We'll need her with us."

Haply thought this over, "fine, she goes with you. You all have your orders, snap to!"

"Sir, aye, air!" everyone excluding Jade rang off.

The sounds of Cannibals and Husks grew louder as the five of them raced to their destination. Irving already had his Valkyrie out, Alec was going with his Valiant, Sarah was using her Hurricane, Beghren was prepping his Falcon and Alicia had her predator.

The level was split once again, with one path leading left and remaining at the same elevation as the offices, while another forked right, down a rather steep declining ramp and into the lower level proper.

Jade saw this too and quickly ordered, "Beghren and Alec take the upper path. Cover us with sniper and heavy weapons fire. Alicia, do you want to come with us?"

Alicia glanced over at Alec for a moment before turning to Jade, "I'll go."

"Good, Irving you're with me on the front. I suppress and you pick them off."

"Aye, ma'am," he replied.

Sarah was already halfway down when she saw her first target, a lone husk. She quickly extended her arm, putting her feet into the proper stance and sent the husk skyward. With a wave of her hand she sent the abomination over the side to its inevitable death.

Irving just descended the ramp when he was met by two shots slapping into his shields. They held long enough for him to slide into cover behind a waist high vent. Once there was a lapse in incoming fire, Irving popped up and eliminated two cannibals with three precise bursts.

Beghren laughed madly, slightly unnerving Alec, as he sent three 25mm grenades bouncing into a crowd of husks. The detonation killed all but one. The survivor was mercilessly put down by a blast from Alicia's predator.

Alec himself was targeting a Cannibal sniper that was pinning Irving down and keeping him from attacking the husks that were steadily closing in. The bastard was crafty too, displacing to a new position every time it fired, leaving Alec only a two second window to pull off a shot.

Alec decided to take a gamble and placed his targeting reticule over the spot he guessed the Cannibal was going to appear from. Luckily he was correct and sent two accurate shots into the creature's head, killing it instantly.

Now clear of the sniper, Irving hopped up and tossed a grenade at the oncoming husks. The throw was lucky, landing just shy of the group. The mindless drones ran right into the explosion. Anything that survived was put down by Wolfe before it could think of getting up.

Jade observed the battle field, trying to remember all the lessons she had learned throughout her many years of training. She opened fire on trio of cannibals trying to flank Alec and Beghren, being able to put two down before her clip ran dry.

"Changing!" she cried out.

Irving heard and switched his aim to cover for her, putting down the remaining cannibal before it could retaliate.

An unseen husk charged forth from its brethren, surprising Alicia for a split second before the inexperienced biotic hurled the creature upwards. Jade saw the floating husk and sent the creature nose diving right into the deck where it died on impact.

"Covering fire!"

A voice screamed over the battle field.

Irving glanced up to see Manny running dead straight through the reaper line and towards the safety of his comrades in arms. At first nothing attacked him. It was as if they were unsure of what their mechanical like eyes were seeing. But their reverie stopped then and there and they opened up instantly. The Columbian's shields flared and died just as he reached Irving. A round hit him just as he vaulted into cover but the lucky man's armor stopped it before it could reach the soft meat underneath.

"That's how a Mexican runs!" exclaimed Beghren.

"I'm Columbian you Nazi _pendejo_!"

Beghren laughed and continued firing. Quite suddenly the reapers began gaining momentum, pushing harder and harder. For every thrall that fell, the reaper's line advance five feet.

Soon, it was face to face. Both Irving and Sarah switched over to their Crusaders and began blasting away anything that got close. Manny switched out his Vindicator for his Tempest and fired with reckless abandon into a large cluster of husks. A string of explosions from several grenades forced Alicia to duck down and bring up her barrier.

More incoming fire even forced Beghren and Alec down. The German cursed in his native tongue and pulled out his Cobra. He jumped up and held down the trigger. The device whined for a second until a lone rocket sailed out from the missile launcher's tube. The explosive impacted the middle ranks of the reaper thralls, killing anything with a ten meter radius.

Wide eyed, Beghren glanced down at the launcher, then at the impact point, then back down to the launcher in utter disbelief of the weapon's raw power. His overconfidence cost him in the end.

The Cannibals and husks recovered far quicker than any organic being should after being victim to that level of an explosion. A sniper lined up its shot and sent a round into Beghren's throat.

The man went down, clasping his neck, trying to seal the wound.

Alec saw this, "Man down! Beghren's down! Alicia get up here!"

Alicia got up to Beghren as quickly as she could. When she did arrive she almost panicked by the sheer amount of blood flooding from the entry and exit holes.

Alicia did the first that came to mind. She stuck her fingers in the holes, trying to stop the bleeding and ignoring how warm the blood that was staining her hands was.

As Beghren's eyes began to glaze over, he uttered something, barely above a whisper.

"_Gott verzeith mir_…." And then he was no more.

Alicia found herself shaking when she literally felt the man die. With her fingers in the man's throat, she could feel his heart beat pumping blood into the open. Then it suddenly stopped. It was horrifying and Alicia nearly cried. If it wasn't for Alec, she would have, but she needed to be strong for her brother. They were in a battle and she needed to be alert. Despite that knowledge, she could feel her resolve waning.

XxxxxX

Over in the offices, Haply saw on his omni-tool a readout of each member of Sabre. Their vital signs, shield strength, ammo capacity, medi-gel capacity, and so on. Anything Haply would need to know about his troopers in the midst of a battle was before him.

Gunner, with his _Sweet Louie_ clenched in his teeth, ducked underneath a stray shot from a Cannibal but it knocked his hat off regardless revealing a black do-rag with the N7 emblem printed on it. Haply snarled at the desecration his beloved hat and stood upright sending blast after blast from his Saber into the amassing horde. Behind him he could hear Jackson as she downed another Cannibal sniper with her Mantis. Farik was beside her, as always, both spotting out opposing snipers and dealing with anything that got too close to his team.

Blackburn and Roman were in the office next door. The medic was going through his thermal clips fast, but taking down enemy after enemy with his Phalanx. Roman's upgraded incinerate tech sailed through one of the smashed windows and set a husk on fire. As the creature flailed around it set it buddies on fire too, causing a chain reaction that eventually eliminated six husks altogether.

Silas McCullen was a little ways before everyone else. He wasn't that accurate with his Argus but Haply knew it was a ploy. His pretend panicked firing was lulling the reapers into sensing a possible easy target. A group of five cannibals began approaching his position, two of them sending a wave of suppressing fire Silas' way to cover their advance. However, they did not see Roman's drone as its sailed unmolested over the battlefield, give a real time bird's eye view of the battlefield. Watching that feed on his own omni-tool was Silas, a detonator ready and primed in his free hand.

Once he saw the group reach his designated spot, he flipped the switch and all five were obliterated. Secondary explosions Silas had deliberately planned ahead for, took out an entire flank of cannibals, killing another dozen. As for their own flank, they were secured. Roman began launching proximity drones into the advancing horde, distracting the thralls, thus giving the humans time to catch a breather.

"Merry Christmas sir," McCullen loudly proclaimed over the battlefield to his superior.

Haply chuckled but his happiness was short lived. Suddenly Beghren's life-signs began dropping, the neck of the little avatar representing Beghren began to flash bright red and Haply already what that meant. Sure enough, the German N7 flat-lined.

Haply hung his head. Men dying are natural in war. It was their job, to go and face that high possibility of death, but it didn't make it feel any better. Besides, Haply knew he could blame only himself. He was to lead these men to victory. He failed one of them and he'd be damned if he'd fail the rest. Beghren was a good soldier, loyal to the corps and his fellow soldiers. Haply dreaded the fact that he had to inform the rest of the team that one of their friends was dead.

XxxxxX

The battle for the lower level was going sour.

Irving knew they needed to fall back. With Beghren dead, the enemy began using the lull in grenades and missiles to advance steadily forward. Already Jade, Irving, and Manny had to fall back three times. Alec was doing his best to suppress the enemy but his shots were becoming more and more inaccurate as time drew on. He was forced to snap from target to target without getting a proper bead on his enemy. At best he was forcing the thralls to bunker down into cover, giving the other four time to pick off anything he had missed.

Alicia was the first to reach the last piece of cover before the ramp. If they were forced to fall back again then this flank would fall. If the flank fell then the offices would be the last line of defense. Then it would be till the last man standing. Fight or die; that's all that would be left.

It seemed that the lower levels were where the reapers were gaining entry from. It was their main point of insertion. If, by some miracle, the line held, it would be a serious thorn in the reapers' sides. They would waste valuable troops trying to press the humans.

But alas, as things looked currently, there would be no holding. The thralls were advancing with even more gusto now that they killed Beghren. His absence left both a physical and morale hole. Physically, he was keeping the thralls at bay, eliminating them if they ever bunched up. Normal grenades could do that as well, but Irving and Manny had long since run out. From a morale standpoint, having a friend die is never easy and it began to weigh heavily on both Irving and Manny's minds.

"_All units fall back to the offices_!" Haply ordered over the comm.

Manny and Irving exchanged looks and began providing covering fire for both Sarah and Alicia as they darted up the ramp. Once they were clear, Manny covered Irving's escape while Alec covered Manny's. Soon they were in the offices with the rest of the team.

Without anyone left to defend it, the reapers were now allowed to advance freely through the lower level. Now cleared of those troublesome humans, they linked up with their brothers that were assaulting Haply's group. Bolstered by the new numbers, they resumed their attack.

Now faced with an attack from two sides, the team was forced to divert their attention between the two. Haply, Wolfe, Garcia, and Jade covered the main pathway while Lienskov, Alec, Blackburn and Silas covered the ramp. Alicia was stuck with runner duty, transporting ammo and grenades to whoever needed them.

As Irving ended the miserable existence of a charging husk, he heard something that sent shivers down his spine. Even through the loud clatter of the battle raging around them, Irving could still hear it clearly.

When it arrived and landed near the landing pad, it let out a high pitched roar before setting its sights on the defenders before it.

It was some kind of reptilian looking avian creature. Its skin was a rotting leathery red color complimented by the blue lights adorned on its head and chest. As it opened its mouth two cannons stuck out that looked like it would give anything short of a starship trouble.

Somehow, Gunner Haply knew what this new monstrosity was. He never really talked much about his life before the corps although everyone suspected he was a merc. His travels must have taken him to Tuchanka because he called the creature by the name it carried before the reapers… reaperfied it.

"Harvester!"

The harvester roared, almost as if in response, and opened its mouth to fire. Three bright red shots came spewing forth and slammed into whatever was left of the offices we now preoccupied.

The explosions sent the team flying in different directions. Not all stood back up. Andrea and Imam were practically atomized, getting hit dead on by one of the blast. When the smoke cleared nothing was left save for a couple dark spots. One round hit the ground beside Roman, blowing his leg and part of his arm off. The man screamed in pain and as Blackburn, still dazed from the third round, tried to get over there, a Cannibal shot him cleanly through the forehead. The man's body went limp and he fell lifelessly to the floor. With no aid coming, Roman slowly and painfully died of his wounds.

The rest got off relatively scot free. Irving was sent into a wall but his armor took the brunt of the damaged. Haply connected his head with the table he was taking cover behind and was now sporting a minor concussion. Jade was unharmed as well as Alicia who had put up a barrier before hand. Alec received a complimentary piece of shrapnel to his leg, Manny got his face singed and Silas, by grace of the lucky Irish, was completely unharmed.

With Manny holding what was left of his face together and the Master Sergeant still unable to complete a sentence correctly, command fell to Sarah. It wasn't like she was unprepared, just unwilling to receive command by those standards. But she collected herself quickly.

"Irving, McCullen, target the Harvester, give it everything you got!" she ordered, "Alec, me, you, and Manny will target the Cannibals and Husks. Keep them off our back!"

As one they all resumed firing, surprising the reaper troops who thought they had won. The harvester however simply shrugged off the rounds coming towards it, courtesy of both Irving and Silas.

Alec and the wounded Manny were taking turns firing into the Cannibals and husks striding across the main path. Jade however found herself alone defending the ramp.

The harvester screeched once more and returned fire.

"Incoming!" Silas hollered.

Miraculously the shots didn't kill anyone. Jade found herself diving to the deck. The other troops suddenly stopped advancing, opting to pepper the N7's cover with suppressing fire, allowing the much larger thrall to do all the hard work. Sarah cursed both god and the military during the inevitable third volley. Once it was over, she found herself unable to get back up.

"Get up," she ordered herself, "get up Sarah, come on girl you can do this. You aren't weak. You aren't weak!"

Sarah's own words were exactly what she needed to hear, and stood defiantly to resume her own biotic volley. A few warps towards the Harvester, a couple pulls and follow-up throws, even several shockwaves. Anything and everything Sarah had in her arsenal was being thrown against the cannibals assaulting her position.

As the reaper troops began to advance once again, as the harvester prepared another barrage of overly powerful cannon fire, Haply's comm. began to squawk.

"_This is Flight Lieutenant Marcus Kennedy, responding to distress signal November. I have your position, entering visual range now_."

Like an angel sent from above, a gunship appeared behind the harvester. Its nose mounted turret swayed back and forth as the pilot observed the battlefield. Finally the pilot decided to intervene and opened up on the harvester.

The creature roared and craned its neck to look at what dared to fire upon it. As it did though, it took a defiant missile to the face. The winged abomination staggered for a moment before toppling over the side of the building.

"_Guns, guns, guns_," the pilot uttered as he opened up with the machine gun. Waves upon waves of the reaper troops were cut down mercilessly as the pilot strafed the rooftop.

"_Get your ass to the landing pad Sabre! Every one of these fuckers is massing on your position_!"

"You heard the man!" exclaimed Jade as she braced Haply.

Irving quickly helped Manny to his feet as Alec took down an overconfident husk with a clean and surgical head shot. Silas, armed with an Avenger and a powerful Canifex Hand Cannon, charged forth. Using his Avenger he unleashed his fury upon the first two Cannibals that made themselves known. What he didn't see was a cannibal sneaking up behind him, ready to deliver a debilitating melee attack.

Wolfe saw it however and ended that thought before it could begin. Switching targets he sent four long bursts into a crowd of husks that were getting too close for comfort. All but two were killed. Out of ammo, Irving ducked underneath the first one's attack, allowing Jade to light it up with her Hurricane. Recovering, Irving set upon the second, using his rifle's stock as a bludgeon, he caved the creature's face in.

Alicia, using her pistol to guard the still dazed Haply, was satisfied to see a husk go down before her. Proudly she went to shoot it again only to realize she was out of ammo. As she fumbled for a clip, she heard something behind her and was tackled to the ground by a husk.

The two rolled for a second before stopping, the husk on top. It gnashed at her with its teeth, assaulting her nostrils with its cold rotten breath. Using her forearm she struggled to keep the creature at bay but it was drawing nearer.

Suddenly the creature grew stiff and was pulled off her. Her savior, Gunner Haply, grabbed the husk and tossed it away. Alicia then noticed the Master Sergeant's omni-blade was activated.

"Run, get going!" he urged.

"What about you?"

"I'm fine, now go!" he said as he turned and killed an approaching husk with Alicia's discarded pistol before slashing the head off another.

Alicia nodded and resumed her run to safety. It was just up ahead, she could see the gunship as it began to lower its rear hatch. Irving, Jade and Alec were standing before it, killing any husks or cannibals to cross their field of vision. Manny and Silas were just reaching the gunship, climbing up the ramp themselves.

Gunshots made her turn to see Gunner Haply slowly making his way towards her. Dozen of husks were falling to his blade-gun combination. Then he turned and began to hightail it.

With Haply's safety secured, Alicia too began to head for the gunship. Gunner suddenly grunted and fell, a cloud of red blood stuck in midair for a second before gravity sent it downwards.

"Haply!"

Alicia's voice drew Irving's attention to the still form of his mentor and commanding officer. The scarred marine instantly took off toward him. Once there he killed the three cannibals that were lurking on the first incline and knelt before Haply, checking the man's pulse.

It was faint but there. He then forcefully handed Alicia his rifle and picked up Haply, carrying him towards the gunship.

Once inside he set the Master Sergeant down as gently as possible before reclaiming his rifle and heading back out. With a quick tap on both Alec and Jade's shoulders the three leap-frogged into the rear compartment of the gunship.

The ramp closed and they all let out a sigh of relief.

Without hesitating, Sarah headed up to the small cockpit. The ruin architecture of Vancouver was flying past them at an alarming rate. Suddenly the entire cockpit lit up in red and Sarah heard several alarms all ringing at once.

"Contact, on our six! That dragon motherfucker's back!"

The Harvester, hurt from earlier and seeking revenge flapped its leathery wings rapidly to gain enough speed to catch the fleeing aircraft.

It was so focus on the gunship that it didn't the anti-air battery below. The operators however, saw it and targeted.

Three VI assisted shots later and the harvester plummeted to the earth, crashing into a building on the way down, screeching in pain all the while. There it would die.

Several months later, during the retaking of Vancouver, a rather famous picture was taken with that Harvester as a group of marines posed before it. That picture would end up becoming the face of the Victory on Earth announcement another year later.

The pilot let out a sigh of relief and turned south, gaining altitude as he did. Sarah watched as Vancouver became smaller and smaller until all she could see were the small outlines of the numerous reapers and the various explosions that sprung up every second or so.

Towards the back, Irving and Alicia were doing their best to stabilize Haply's wound. Whatever the cannibal shot him with it bypassed Haply's shields and hit his spine. The man was sporting several other gun wounds as well, one piercing his lungs and the other buried in his shoulder.

"Irv… Irving…" Haply sputter, his mouth filling up with blood.

"Sir…" was all the normally stoic marine could utter.

"What… hap-happened on T-Torfan…. It wasn't… wasn't… it wasn't your…"

At then Gunner Haply was no more, his eye dilated, his breathing stopped and he became very still.

Without saying a word Irving pulled off the man's dog-tags and placed them around his own neck, allowing them to dangle with his own. Manny and Silas both watch wordlessly as well, tears forming in the former's eyes before the man blinked them away and turned his head.

Sarah witnessed this as well but elected not to say anything. After all it wasn't her place. This wasn't her team, even though she was the ranking officer. Besides what _could_ she say? Hey Wolfe I'm sorry that the only man you ever considered to be a father just died before your eyes? It was direct and to the point but right now Irving Wolfe was emotionally compromised, even though he wouldn't let it show. Speaking now would make matters worse.

Deciding to shelf it for now, Sarah turned back to the pilot.

"So where are we going?" she asked.

The pilot responded without turning to address her, "We're going south, to the last evacuation point on the western hemisphere that hasn't been wiped out yet."

"Where?" inquired Sarah.

"Rio Villa."

_**Author's Note  
Seriously this one wrote itself, it was like I was possessed.  
So a few noticeable changes, let me know what you think.  
I'm going to go sleep now, okay? Bye-bye.  
FYI  
*Dolbo Yeb – Dumbass  
* What Beghren says before he dies is, God forgive me**_

_**BTW this is the longest chapter I've ever written ever. So frame it and hold on to it so when I end writing my self help book on human-dolphin relations I'll have something to sign. LOL**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

*This chapter, up until the story arc's conclusion will all be revised. Every chapter from this point on, that had already been written, will be revised like this.

Everything Mass Effect belongs to EA and Bioware

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER SIX**

**Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean  
Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

According to the pilot, the ride from Vancouver to Rio Villa would take almost three hours. This was mainly due to the pilot's decision to take a scenic route over the Pacific as to avoid any reapers. Chances were that if they encountered any it would take little to shoot them down.

As such Irving was left little to do besides stare at the fallen and cold corpse of his mentor and commanding officer Master Sergeant Gunner Haply. During the group's escape from Vancouver he was shot multiple times in the back as he tried to escort Alicia to safety. Although Irving succeeded in carrying him to the gunship, Haply quickly succumbed to his wounds.

Thankfully the pilot spared his emergency blanket from his personal survival kit- something all pilots had in the off chance they were shot down- as to cover Haply's body. It was already slightly unnerving to share the cramped compartments of a dead person, but it would have been worse to watch as the brave man slowly decomposed. That and it jut didn't seem right leaving him open for all to look upon, baseless or no.

The rear compartment of the Mantis Gunship was not spacious at all. There was little room to move around so everyone soon gave up trying to get comfortable and just did their best to wait out the ride in silence.

Manny Garcia, now acting commander of the N7 team Sabre was doing his best to stay conscious as he typed up an after action report on his omni-tool. It wasn't necessarily required, they had no idea of knowing how much of the Alliance command structure was still alive, but it gave the man something to do and keep his wandering thoughts at bay.

Alec and Alicia were busy trying to get the metal shard Alec received from the Harvester out of the blonde's shoulder without him succumbing to further injury. After about ten minutes of complaining, the young N6 graduate eventually opted to just yanking the thing out. Alicia obviously protested but in the end, her brother's stubbornness won out and she was left to just patching him up. Afterwards the two sat in silence, both dealing with what had transpired earlier that day.

Although Alec didn't really know any of the N7s of team Sabre, he did mourn their deaths. After all, in his eyes, they were brothers in arms who he had shed blood, sweat, and tears with. Battle and war had a strange way of bonding people together who under normal circumstances would never mingle with each other. He was just sad to see two of his comrades from the 32nd had to die such uneventful deaths or even die in the first place.

Silas McCullen, Sabre teams resident explosives expert was up front talking to the pilot. He asked many questions about the state of the Earth and its various nations but received little in the way of facts. Everything was speculative and based off rumors so none of it was entirely reliable. Some of the rumors held a grain of truth only because they sounded true.

One of them was that Luna base was utterly wiped out. The reaper forces didn't even stop to land troops, they just bombed the enclose cities until exposure to the sub-zero temperatures of space did the rest. Sure there could be survivors, down in the deep recesses of the underground cities, but relief was not coming any time soon.

Irving Wolfe, Sabre teams scout and the unofficial third in line of succession to Sabre's leadership, was doing his utter best to keep himself composed. A lot had happened in a very short amount of time and now, with nothing to do but think he was forced to relive it all.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that he and his team had reported to earth following a massive call-back of all Special Forces teams acting in the Traverse. Stupid were they to actually believe the rumors that batarians were on their way to invade. Hell, Irving was willing to sit through another week long torture session from the Batarian Special Investigations Unit than have a repeat of the day's earlier events. The reapers seemed damn near unstoppable and as a foot soldier, Irving wasn't sure exactly how he could fight them. For all he knew, they were the god-like machines that rumors painted them to be. Not once during the evacuation of Vancouver did he see a reaper, an actual reaper, fall. Everything that was thrown at it the leviathan simply shrugged it off. It was shock and awe at its finest.

Sarah watched as the man before her debated within himself. As such she began to simply observe him, taking in his appearance and his various reactions to whatever battle was raging inside of his head.

For a split second, Sarah felt herself peel away the marine's scars. What was left was a surprisingly young looking man with a well rounded jaw and a cleft chin. Had he never received those scars, he could have been quite handsome. But alas, when ever someone looked upon him, that's all they would see. Not the bright hazel eyes, not the closely shaven dark brown hair. Just his scars. It was a shame really.

Sarah realized she was staring to long when Irving's eyes met her own. He stared at her for a moment before uttering, "What?"

Sarah shook her head dismissively, "its nothing."

"Lieutenant, if you have something to say, say it."

And there it was. The over all reason why, in Sarah's opinion, people never got to know Irving Wolfe. It was because he didn't let them. Either it was a byproduct of people's instant judgment or if he'd actually been this way his entire life, Sarah didn't know. All she knew was that the man could be all chummy and warm one second, and the next he would treat you with utter disdain and dismiss you as quickly.

"Well, I…" Sarah struggled to find the words.

Irving watched as an almost apologetic look crossed Sarah's features. Although she dint know it or chose to ignore it, Irving had already observed the woman for himself. Scarlet red hair, deep green eyes, and while her chin wasn't exactly delicate, it wasn't too pronounced either. In his younger days, as that cocky little street rat living in the slums of Terra Nova, he would have made a play for her. But that was then and this was now. Right now he had other things on his mind that took priority over getting lucky.

"Chief," Sarah said, bringing Irving back to their conversation, "I'm sorry I hit you."

Irving chuckled, amused that that was what had been bothering her, "I'm sorry I hit back. You got skill ma'am. Let me guess… Ascension program?"

Sarah nodded, impressed, "yeah that right. I trained on Grissom Academy until I turned eighteen. After that I enlisted and was sent to the 103rd."

"Isn't that biotic exclusive?"

Jade nodded, "yes… though they were in Vancouver and according to that officer we talked to chances are they're all dead."

Irving hung his head, "I'm sorry to hear that. Did you have many friends there?"

"Yeah… but I'm not going to get all depressed. Its sad to hear that all those lives were lost but the best thing I can do to honor their memories is to keep on fighting."

"I understand completely."

"I'm sorry for your teammates as well. I hear that they were all decent folks."

Irving broke eye contact, "yes, they were."

In his mind's eye Irving replayed each one of their deaths. Beghren getting shot in the throat, Andrea and Imam getting killed by the harvester, Blackburn getting shot in the head and Roman slowly dying of his wounds, same as Haply.

It all happened so fast. It wasn't fair. These people deserved to go out a better way. They deserved to die for something meaningful. Not getting atomized, or getting shot by a sniper. Not getting a leg and an arm blown off and slowly dying without anyone to come and help. It was almost criminal. They had all survived and experienced so much and to lose them like that…

It was just a damn shame. Andrea Jackson was probably one of the best snipers in the Alliance. She had dozens of kills to her name and probably even more that are unconfirmed. Imam, being her spotter, would get credit too, seeing as snipers worked in teams. It was only a product of the vids that made snipers the silent, go it alone badasses that everyone thinks they are. In reality its long stretches of boring intercepted by the occasional chance to shoot something, as Andrea once so eloquently put it. She had joined the N7s at nineteen, escaping a life of poverty, prostitution and drug abuse. Imam, always being a man of god, was once a priest who had intervened in a mugging that had taken place outside of a shop a street down from his Mosque. He ended up killing the attacker and was soon sentenced for manslaughter. However, the circumstances allowed him a choice: join the military or serve in one of New Mecca's prisons. Seeing he could help more people if he joined the military, he did just that. His sharp eyes and intellect were soon noticed by the Office of Naval Intelligence and he was sent to Rio Villa for training. Surprisingly he fell in love with the N program's rigorous training and discipline and eventually graduated at the top of his class.

Roman Lienskov and Wilhelm Beghren were actually old friends. Both were from Shanxi yet from complete opposite sides of the spectrum. Wilhelm's father was part of the militia that fought against the turian invasion. Somehow he survived the indiscriminant bombings and sired a son. With pensions from both the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy, he eventually opened his own construction business and did rather well for himself. Beghren wished to follow his father's footsteps and joined the Marines out of a sense of duty. Roman, on the other hand, had no relatives that took part in the invasion but his family was among the first to head over and help with the rebuilding efforts. It was people like that, that turned Shanxi from a ruined husk back into the shining example of human engineering. Roman was a byproduct of that and he must of inherited his engineering skills from his parents. As fate would have it, the two enlisted around the same time, met up in Macapa and never looked back. They say that positive and negative forces attract and Beghren and Roman's friendship was a perfect example of that.

Blackburn was the oddest one to join Sabre. He never wished to join the military. He had come from a long line of medical professionals and only wanted to do the same. But his humble upbringings left him with little towards medical school and enlisting with the promise of payment for said schooling was his sole motivation. That was until Elysium. Just a corpsman working along side the marines at the time he was horrified by what he saw. This eventually warped his outlook and he eventually petitioned to enter the N program. He passed through albeit difficulty and eventually made his way to Sabre. He and Irving actually didn't start off on the right foot when they first met. One operation had a Kishock harpoon lodged in Irving's leg, just managing to miss his femoral. Blackburn, still new and green, forgot to treat him for shock and he nearly died on the spot if it wasn't for Haply's intervention. They bumped heads over and over until finally, they decided to keep their personal problems off the battlefield. When not in battle the two rarely spoke and when they did it was short and straight to the point. Irving never wished to become best friends with Blackburn but the man was still part of his team regardless. Maybe, somewhere down the line, they could have worked past their issues. But now Blackburn was dead so the chance at redemption would forever be lost.

All in all, they were a team. A sturdy brick wall standing proudly against the incessant storms of the merciless unknown from the deep dark galaxy. But like any good wall, there needed to be a good mortar or else the whole thing would collapse on itself. That was Gunner Haply, the glue that held everything together. There wasn't a problem that he could fix, a situation he'd never been in, or an issue that he couldn't handle. He cared for his troops and they loved him for it. But for Irving, Haply was the mentor that made him succeed where he would normally fail. For every situation, Haply would be there to offer some sagely advice while surprisingly being simple at the same time. Always, after their talks, Irving would find himself bolstered and yet embarrassed that he didn't arrive at that conclusion before hand. Irving knew that if not for Gunner Haply, he would be dead. Even in death, Irving owed that man more than he could ever give.

Irving took solace in the fact that at least three members of Sabre were still breathing. He had already decided that if they managed to get off earth in one piece, he would talk to Manny about transferring Alec and Sarah onto the team. With Sarah being in a leadership position and Alec being a skilled marksman, it would work nicely. But as fate would have it, Irving wouldn't need to.

**Rio Villa, N7 Headquarters  
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America  
****Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

Rio was on fire.

Even from the high altitude the gunship pilot was flying at, Alec could see that the city was lost. Almost a dozen Reapers of both varieties were burning everything in sight. The Statue of Christ, one of Brazil's most known monuments, was reduced to ruins. Only the left leg and a bit of the right foot remained of the religious icon. Tracer rounds from the various anti-aircraft guns were plowing into the reapers with ass all affect. Thick black smoke from the thousands of fires blotted out the setting sun, turning the orange colored sunset even more foreboding.

They made their way over the city in silence. No one had anything to say since every one was thinking the same thing. Finally they saw their destination, the only part of Rio that wasn't completely on fire.

Rio Villa, the headquarters for the N program, stood defiant against both Mother Nature and the reapers. This was probably due to the mass accelerator cannon sitting atop of the square shaped flight control tower.

The control tower sat directly in the middle of the surface level of the base. One side looked to be set aside for cargo and supplies while the other was designed as the landing pad. There were three paths on each side that led to the tower. Two of the outer paths ran on equal level as the control tower while the one in the middle sank lower, down towards the raging waters that flowed towards the bottom of the dam.

The dam itself was massive. It was shaped in a circle with four constructs, all similar to each other, dotted around it. The inside of the circle was six floors deep until it submerged under the water where two more floors resided. The dam supplied hydro-power to the entire base and offered it protection from almost any assault.

The Alliance's Interplanetary Combatives Training was the premier school for leadership and combat expertise. Sometimes called N-School or just simply, the Villa, the ICT recruits officers and soldiers from every branch of Earth's militaries to partake in the grueling course at Rio Villa in Rio de Janeiro.

Initially, candidates train for more than twenty hours a day, leading small combat teams through mock hostile territory with practically zero food or sleep. Trainees who do well are awarded the designation of N1 and are invited to return to complete the subsequent course of N2 through N6. Those five courses are all held off planet and include instruction in Zero-G combat, High Altitude- Low Orbit free fall training, basic instruction utilizing practically any vehicle or weapon ever made, combat diving, combat instruction and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.

The highest grade of training, N6, provides actual combat experience in real combat zones throughout the galaxy. If the trainee survives these scenarios in an admirable and effective fashion, he or she receives the coveted N7 designation. N7 is the only ICT designation that may be worn on field or dress uniforms.

There is little shame in failing an N course. The training is so extreme that even qualifying for N1 elevates a soldier to a position of respect. Irving can recall how rigorous his own training was.

He remembered it perfectly, marching through the jungles surrounding Rio de Janeiro with his small team of six fellow recruits. They had a clear objective: make it from point A to point B without losing a single man. It sounded simple enough and Irving even recalled one of the recruits joking that maybe all the prestige behind the N-Program was simply just Alliance hot air.

But then the exercise began and marching through the jungle for nigh on twenty days with almost no rations to speak of while being ambushed by the instructors at any given moment made the simple task much more difficult. At one point, the recruits were so hungry that Irving and another trainee had to go hunting just to find something to fill their bellies. They managed to kill a boar but were forced to eat it raw otherwise the cooking fire would have given away their position. On the twentieth day, when it was just about to turn into day twenty-one, the recruits shambled to their objective only to find their instructors eating fresh steaks and sipping on cold beers.

It wasn't until N6 did the course suddenly switch from being another training regimen to an actual test. Irving and what little there was of his class that hadn't dropped out had to go on a high stakes mission on the fringe of the Terminus to take out a mercenary base that was funneling supplies to a nearby raider gang. Somehow the recruits pulled it off without losing a single man and one three-hour ceremony later, and Irving Wolfe was an N7.

Wolfe, Manny, Sarah, and Silas hadn't returned to Rio Villa since their own ceremonies. In Wolfe's class, at the beginning of N1 training, there were nearly fifty recruits. By the time Wolfe reached N6 training, all but seven others had either dropped out or neglected to continue.

To Sarah it felt like she had just left. After all it had only been a couple of months since her own graduation. As the gunship approached she watched as its AA gun batteries swung around to meet them. The bulky Mass Accelerator Cannon eventually made the turn as well, making Sarah shudder if the personnel controlling that cannon ever saw them as a threat.

"_Unknown aircraft, submit IFF or we will use deadly force. You have ten seconds to comply_," ordered the stern voice over the radio. Judging that across the harbor millions were dying every minute, Sarah was not about to judge.

The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Marcus Kennedy, quickly submitted his Friend-Foe indicator, and even added his own rank and serial number vocally over the comm. He quickly received confirmation and was told to land at the central tower, one of the four constructs arrayed around the circular dam. Ironically it was the only one who didn't have a massive tower jettisoning from it.

Kennedy made the descent without a hitch and landed where instructed. When the rear hatch opened, the entire gunship was surprised to see three high ranking officers standing before them along with their personal escorts.

Everyone, except Alicia, snapped of into a quick salute and held it there until the officer returned their own. Then, once ordered to, they stood at attention as befitting any soldier when addressing superiors. Silently, Irving recognized one of them from his own ceremony, both when he first arrived as a new recruit and when he left as a newly minted N7 operative.

That one was the first to speak up, "Welcome to Rio people. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Frank Glaucner. Next to me are General Haveford and Admiral Stromm. Frankly, I'd like to skip the pleasantries and get right down to business… who the fuck are you?"

Irving was about to step forward but was surprised to see Jade take the lead.

"Sir, my name is First Lieutenant Sarah Jade. This is Gunnery Chief Irving Wolfe, Sergeant Alec Carter, Operations Chief Manny Garcia, Specialist Silas McCullen, and Sergeant Carter's sister Alicia," Jade introduced.

Glaucner nodded as he took everything down in his omni-tool. Alec assumed it was to check their identities or something similar. He was a bit surmised that Sarah remembered everyone's names and ranks. He'd have to thank her later for that tingling feeling he was getting in his balls right then.

He did his best not to snicker.

"And the casualty?" Glaucner asked.

This time Irving spoke up, "Master Sergeant Gunner Haply, sir, commanding officer of Team Sabre One."

"Crying shame," said Glaucner, a little more coldly than Irving would have liked. He then went on, "So where are you coming from?"

"Vancouver sir," reported Jade.

"Vancouver huh? We just got word that the SSV Normandy took off from there. As a matter of fact we also have a report, legit or not, that that is where Admiral Anderson is spearheading a resistance movement."

The whole group was stunned in silence. Everyone knew that Commander Shepard was on lock down following the situation with Aratoht, but escaping and then taking the Normandy? And a resistance movement as well? Granted a lot can happen in three hours but damn… no wonder Admiral Anderson is well respected.

"But anyway, welcome to Rio. I assume you're here, not for the fancy architecture, but for the evacuation that is arriving, correct?" asked Glaucner rhetorically.

When Jade answered in the affirmative, it was Admiral Strum who answered, "we have bad news and good news concerning that," said the heavily South African accented woman, "the good news is that the 182nd Scout Flotilla will be here to evacuate the base. Spearheading it is the Carrier SSV _Prince Charles_. The bad news is that the 182nd won't be here for another two hours. Add to that, the reapers seem to be heading in our direction. We've sent several units to the city to delay that advance but that's all they've been able to do… delay."

The gruff sounding General Haveford spoke next, "Report to Major Fisher for assignment. You should find him by the cargo area. He'll explain everything in detail. Don't worry about your casualty, we'll send someone over here to dispose of him properly."

The surviving members of Sabre didn't like the sound of that but they were in no position to argue. As one, the group saluted again, and was properly dismissed. Dutiful to Haply, they waited until the team Haveford mentioned arrived to dispose of Haply's corpse. They followed them until they arrived at a partially secluded area behind some cargo tanks. There was already a long line of both dead marines and civilians when they arrived. To Sarah it was like Vancouver all over again. She only wished that she and her new found friends would survive this as well.

After taking a few moments to say their farewells, the group moved on to find Major Fisher. Finding the major wasn't the hard part, it was navigating through the massive ensemble of refugees that got to Rio Villa. Irving later found out that there were only 71of them… out of a city of 32 million. It was mind numbing to think that all those people were dead. He didn't even want to think of the world-wide casualty rate.

As they made their way through the crowd Alicia heard a various amount of rumors. One was that the Japanese managed to take one of the reapers down or that the Britain was completely wiped out. A few others included that the reapers had destroyed the citadel, that it was actually a geth invasion, or her personal favorite, that it was an Alliance conspiracy trying to gain support for an attack on Batarian space. The rumor mill was goes going crazy and the worst part was that no one had the answers.

Sarah led the way until they found the major inside of a lean-to huddled over a holographic display of Rio de Janeiro. Next to him was a radio that he was using to contact a group of soldiers, signified by blue dots on the display, getting surrounded by reaper troops, signified by red dots. It was both laughable and depressing how detached from the actual fighting commanders actually are.

"No, I say again, what is your status?" asked the Major into the comm.

"_We're surrounded! They're attacking from every- Milles! Godamn it! Get a corpsman over here! We're surrounded sir, taking heavy casualties. I repeat heavy casualties! We need-_"

The comm. was suddenly cut off as one of the big red dots stormed over the small cluster of blue dots. One by one the blue dots went out until there was nothing but red.

"Damn it!" Fisher cursed, "so much for delaying the bastards. That was our last hold in the city."

The major's head rose to meet Sarah and her party as she drew nearer.

"Welcome to Rio, I'm Major Fisher though I assume you already knew that. Its good that you're here," he began noticing the four soldier wearing N7 on their armor.

"I'm going to get straight to business. The machines in the city will be here momentarily, once they finished in the city, we're no doubt going to be next on the chopping block. I need you to help us prepare for an imminent attack. We have around a hundred combat effective soldiers at our disposal and around fifteen civilians volunteering their help. Simply put, mix in the ranks, find a hole and plug it."

And then the briefing was over as quickly as it had begun. Sarah turned on her heels and began walking towards where the front line would be.

Once out of earshot, Irving ushered Alec over to the side, away from prying ears.

"Alec, we need to talk."

Alec looked upon Irving with a mix of confusion and suspicion, "what about?"

"Your sister. She's talented, don't get me wrong but she's a noncombatant. Frankly I fear she might get in the way."

"She'll be with me. You heard Fisher; we'll need all the firepower on the line as we can."

"No, you misunderstand. I mean she'll get in _your_ way. She'll distract you. If you want either of you to make it off earth alive, you need to stay focused."

"Plenty of noncombatants are stepping up, why not Alicia?"

Irving glanced around at the little militia that had been arranged. Most of them looked like they have never fired a gun before in their lives or were too young to even start shaving yet. But they were eager but that eagerness would only take them so far.

"Look at them all Alec… how long do you think they'll last? To me, they all look like they've played too many games. There are no restarts in life kid, just alive and dead. It's your choice but are you actually willing to risk Alicia in what is going to be us retreating like crazy sons of bitches? There isn't going to be room for you to worry about her."

Irving said his piece and left Alec standing there deep in thought. He then spotted Sarah who was going over a vast array of weapon stacked off to the side.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing important. You ready?"

Jade smiled and laughed, "Chief, I'm not a delicate little flower, I can handle myself."

"Just doing my job ma'am."

"I know," she replied before her smile disappeared, "I am kind of nervous though…"

Irving nodded, completely understanding what she meant, "That's perfectly natural. Just promise me one thing though."

Sarah turned to him, allowing a stray strand of red hair fall over her eye, "Oh? What?"

"It perfectly natural to duck when the first shot snaps off. But promise not to stay in the dirt for more than five seconds."

Jade nodded with determination, remembering her little adventure escaping her apartment, "I promise."

Irving saluted her to which she responded in kind, "Dismissed chief."

"Ma'am."

Before leaving the miniature armory Irving spotted a spare helmet. What it was doing there, Irving hadn't the faintest clue. But after asking he was told that its previous owner as killed and it was available to whoever needed one. Irving snatched it up readily and although it wasn't the one he had grown accustomed to, it was better than nothing. Thankfully it was built like his though, completely enclosed and with the breathing unit controls towards the back, made available by pushing a button.

Alec walked onwards, wondering about what Irving had said. As such he found himself watching the regular marines and the volunteers set up makeshift barricades and defenses. All of it seemed eerily similar to the same defenses Alec saw in Vancouver. He knew that there was no way they could win in a straight up fight but then he remembered that this was all just a delaying action until the 182nd Scout Flotilla arrived to evacuate them.

There were three lines in total. The rear most was Red Line. It was the most heavily guarded, arranged with heavy machineguns, M100 grenade launchers, ML77 Missile Launchers, Cobra Missiles, Falcon Rifles and the twin AA batteries. The middle line was Yellow Line and was defended by the same heavies as Red Line but without the aid of the AA's.

The line Alec knew he'd be manning along with the majority of the defenders was not only the front line but also named Blue Line. It was guarded by only whatever anyone carried. Which to say were small arms and grenades. It wasn't designed to last but instead give the reapers a bloody enough nose so that it would slow their advance towards to the other two lines, buying them time to escape.

Alec shrugged. He dint really care for the plan or strategy. That wasn't his job. His job was to kill anything remotely hostile. In the end he decided to look for some more grenades and some extra thermal clips. The next couple of hours were going to be long indeed.

Irving passed through Yellow and Red lines before coming to the front which was arranged in semi-circle formation with the cargo area to the front and the cityscape of Rio to the right. It was here that human and reaper blood would stain the cold deck of Rio Villa first.

Looking towards the city, Irving found Manny and Silas standing at the water's edge, staring out over the harbor and onto the burning horizon. He stepped up beside them and they greeted him wordlessly.

"So, I was wondering. Why aren't we seeing any more N7s around?" asked Manny.

Silas shrugged, "maybe it's because we were the only one to make it here. Maybe it's because they're all dead. Who knows lad, but in the end does it really matter?"

Manny took this news stoically before Silas spoke up once again, "so what's yer take on this lot?"

Irving glanced back at the mixed ensemble of defenders and shrugged, "hard to say. They seemed anxious enough."

Manny let out a laugh, "yeah, until the first reaper shows up. Then they'll be shitting their pants."

There was another minute of silence before Silas spoke again.

"We were a good team, weren't we?"

Manny cocked a brow, "_Were_? What do you mean _were_?"

Silas shrugged, "I mean that no matter what happens, Sabre as we knew and loved it, won't ever be the same. There are only three of us left and if we survive this then we'll either be getting replacements or we'll get relocated. Either way, Sabre is dead."

The three of them stood there watching the as the reapers burned everything in sight. No one said anything, taking Silas' words in. When he finally had enough, Irving walked over to Blue Line and found himself a spot to sit down as he mentally prepared himself for the fight to come.

Alec himself sat down next to Irving, as the younger marine began to gloss over his new found toy. Irving felt Alec arrival and glanced down at the Sergeant's hands.

"Where did you get that?"

Carter shrugged, "Same place that you got that helmet; the armory rack. The guy who gave this to me said it was called the N7 Typhoon and is basically like a Revenant on steroids."

Irving nodded, "and Alicia?"

Carter smiled slightly, "She's with the rest of the civvies. I told her she's help more with them than us. Hand to god that girl takes after our mother they way she scolded me for benching her."

"It's only because she cares," Wolfe replied.

"True enough."

There was a tense silence for the next half hour. Manny and Silas each took position along the line but within earshot. Sarah had claimed a spot next to Alec. Everyone single marine or civilian volunteer on the line were each preparing themselves. They knew what was coming could possibly be their deaths but they took solace in the fact that they had chosen to fight to live rather than run and hide. That courage would hold Blue Line and when that courage failed so too would the line.

"Jesus Christ, look at them!" someone screamed out.

Collectively, every single person in Rio Villa stared out across the waters and onto the burning city. Standing there, still as statues, were the reapers of both varieties. The Reapers stared at the marines and the marines stared right back in an eye staring contest between god and ant. A moment of uneasy silence fell over the water between them. The fires raging untouched in the city casted the reapers in an almost mythical and intimidating visage letting the orange-red color of the fires to dance across the jet black hulls of the reapers. A few other reapers were still milling about inside the city but it seemed the majority would be there to test the resolve of the famed Rio Villa and its stalwart defenders.

The first reaper to stride forward was one of the smaller versions. When its first leg touched the water, the machine shuddered. But it wasn't from the cold temperature. As it shook, piece of something fell off of it and down into the water below, almost like it was a dog shedding a coat of fur.

As one, the rest of the reapers advanced, letting out loud mechanical roars of ancient malice and power. Even from across the bay, the defenders of Rio Villa heard this as clear as day. A few were frightened enough to try and run but were stopped by their more experienced comrades before they got very far.

Up in the sky, hundred of Harvesters circled like carrion over a dead carcass. They let out their own roars but their size palled in comparison to their larger reaper masters and their shrieks weren't nearly as powerful.

The assault began when the first harvester unleashed the first fireball, almost as if it spit it out towards the Villa below. The others did the same and soon the entire sky was filled with the red streaks of foreboding doom.

The battle officially began when the first fireball landed upon the outer deck of the Villa. As one, the defenders immediately opened up on the attacking Husks and Cannibals. Not waiting for a moment longer, the harvesters descended upon the defenders, raking their positions with high intensity explosions.

The defenders responded in kind by opening up with their AA guns. Harvesters were knocked out of the sky by the dozens but their sheer numbers made it impossibly to kill every single one.

On the ground the fighting had already broken out. Heavy Machineguns opened fire, grenades were primed and thrown, men were killed as the deck became slick with blood and entrails.

The battle for Rio Villa was underway.

_**Author's Note  
I threw in a very subtle homage to Halo in this chapter. Anyone who spots it gets a cookie.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

*Once again this chapter is being revised. After this there should only be one more until things return to normal. Thank you for your patience.

Everything Mass Effect belongs to EA and Bioware.

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER Six**

**Rio Villa, N7 Headquarters  
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America  
****Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

To call the situation at Rio Villa chaotic would be an understatement. Almost as soon as the reaper forces began to clash with the hopeless defenders all semblance of order had disappeared.

The husks had charged blue line with reckless abandon, forcing the defenders to concentrate their fire onto the creatures rushing their line. The cannibals used this to move forward. Slowly but steadily they began to draw closer and closer to the actual line, launching grenades and pinning troopers down with accurate suppressing fire.

Added to their plight, the harvesters that were circling above had begun to make passes over the entire complex, raining down fire from above. The AA guns were going off fearlessly, putting down many of the flying monstrosities but once again their sheer numbers and speed spared many of their number. For everyone that was killed two more seemed to take their place. A few even descended to grab marines in their talons, bringing them up high into the sky only to drop them to the earth far below.

Save for Vancouver, Sarah had never been in a real full fledge battle before. Normally she would be able to draw upon her extensive training to help her deal and adapt to any situation. Although they mentioned and trained their recruits to be able to handle any situation, Sarah couldn't help but feel like they should have trained her better for the sheer brutality and chaos that normally engulfs any battle. She wasn't naïve or was under the assumption that battle would be any different, but knowing something and experiencing something were two very different things.

There was death all around her. More than once she felt something warm and wet splash across her armor. She knew it was blood from the marines around her but she forced herself to ignore the disturbing image of another person's blood covering her.

Defiantly she rose and began to unload upon a group of cannibals that were forcing Silas into cover. Once he was relieved he rose himself and began to empty his Argus into a couple husks, mercilessly blowing them apart with well timed and placed bursts.

Alec wasn't too far away, having a field day with his new N7 Typhoon Light Machinegun. His shots roared off in an even _die motherfucker die_ rhythm. He easily put down a small group of husks with little difficulty before moving on to a band of cannibals that were tearing apart Manny and Irving's cover.

While Alec liked this new gun, he had to admit there were a few small draw backs. The gun itself weighed a ton and it took all of Alec's strength to fire it. Reloading also took longer than it normally would when using his Valkyrie. When the gun did fire, there seemed to be a small warm up period where the gun would slowly pick its way up to full auto. This would leave Alec exposed longer than he normally would, giving his opposition a few extra seconds to pick him off. He was lucky that none had yet and he was also grateful for the small blast shield that was placed just shy of the barrel of the Typhoon giving him some level of protection.

While there were drawbacks, the gun's sheer power made Alec smile. One small burst into a husk would tear apart limbs. Any cannibals that had fed or were similarly armored were put down much easier as the gun tore threw any natural barrier the cannibals possessed. That and the weapon's loud clatter and massive clip forced many of the young man's enemies into cover.

After eliminating the fire pouring down upon Irving and Manny's cover, Alec switched targets once again. Just before he could pull the trigger on a husk, the creature was sent skyward and then was slammed mercilessly into the ground. Alec looked over to see Sarah with her arm outstretched before she dove back into cover. Alec smirked and then scanned the battlefield for more easy targets. With all the husks charging blue line, he wasn't disappointed.

Just a few paces down the line, Manny and Irving were taking out any cannibals they could see. Irving's Valkyrie was going off in a neat rhythm as he snapped from cannibal to cannibal. Manny was assisting by pinning any survivors with his Vindicator long enough for Irving to return and take them out. Soon Irving was forced to reload, calling it out to his teammate. The two then switched roles. Many would kill, Irving would pin. The two repeated this over and over again, the bodies of the dead reaper troops beginning to pile up.

Running across the battle field were the supply runners. Set up by Major Fisher and made up of the Civilian Volunteers and the more inexperienced marines, the small group of twenty runners would dart across Blue Line, handing out ammo and grenades to any one who needed them. In normal circumstances this would be handled by marine controlled VI Drones. The holographic orbs would float across the field, handing out much needed provisions, zapping any enemy that came too close with their one and only armament. The defenders had been using the drones but the reapers had specifically targeted them at the start of hostilities, cutting the alliance forces off from one of their essential assets. Sure, drones couldbe created by the engineers back on red line at will, but whenever one would appear, it wouldn't make it five feet before a cannibal sniper took it out. The human runners however were more diverse in their usefulness. They were able to move much more swiftly than a VI Drones and were also able to carry stretchers, placing any wounded marine upon them to be ferried to the aid station behind Red Line.

Irving had called for ammo a few minutes before when he began to notice, with the aid of the HUD flashing on his helmet's visor, that he was going to run out of ammo soon. A young kid, no more than fifteen arrived with a satchel of thermal clips and grenades. He arrived holding a predator handgun, sliding into cover next to Manny before fishing through his bag.

"How much do you need?" he asked.

Irving spared a moment to put down a husk that had managed to breech the line and grab a nearby marine. The burst took the husk's arm off by the elbow, freeing the marine to curb stomp the creature's delicate face.

"Give me six clips and two grenades!"

The kid nodded and quickly produced the desired amount. Irving snatched up the first one and slammed it into his weapon.

"Thanks kid!"

"Put it on my tab!" the young teen answered before darting further down the line.

Irving's heart fell when he saw a cannibal sniper line up a shot and place a round right into the kid's face, tearing through one eye and exiting out the back of his head. The force of the kid's momentum carried the teen a couple more paces before the young man fell dead.

Irving shook his head and returned to the fight, memories of Torfan flooding back to him. The anger had him seeing red with fury. This new found vigor felled many of the reaperfied creatures allowing one particular marine to lob a grenade into a cluster of cannibals. The explosive went of in a bright display of heat and pressure, killing anything caught within its deadly radius.

Irving's bravado also had some undesirable effects. As he put down the thralls before him he unintentionally drew some of the cannibal's fire his way. One cannibal in particular drew a bead on the N7 opening up on him. The first five shots killed Irving's shields while the remaining one slammed into his helmet.

The marine went down with a curse, drawing Manny's attention. Garcia dropped to his knees to check on his comrade but was relived to see that Irving's helmet had stopped the round. Unfortunately it also caused the casing to crack rendering the protective helm to be now utterly useless.

With another curse Irving tore it off and resumed firing. When he did he was surprised to see that the cannibals were beginning to fall back. The husks however were still assaulting the line.

Confused, the defenders of Blue Line glanced at each other while eliminating anything that got too close.

"Did we win?" asked one young marine.

"There's no way," answered the marine's aging sergeant.

During the entire firefight, no one had been checking on the reapers themselves, too busy to deal with their troops. Sarah had to give the reapers some small amount of credit on that part. While the troops had no doubt been pressing blue line, the entire battle so far had been one giant diversion, allowing the reapers to approach unscathed. When General Haveford realized this he ordered the MAC to begin opening fire. However, it was too little too late. The reapers had gotten too close.

They opened up with their magneto-hydrodynamic bow weapons, ejecting a steam of molten metal at the fraction of the speed of light. The galactic equal would be the much weaker Guardian defense lasers. The red beams tore through Blue line like it was made of butter. Marines themselves were atomized and the architecture of the Villa was obliterated, sending debris to rain down upon the defenders. Red and Yellow lines weren't spared this assault either. The MAC was taken out instantly, the giant gun being split in two. A small cluster of marines had the unfortunate honor of being directly underneath it as it fell, crushing them instantly. The AA guns that had been keeping the harvesters from getting too cocky were wiped out, one by one. The other three identical complexes faced similar destruction, one of them being destroyed completely.

Not staying at the doomed line any longer, many of the defenders of blue line began to turn tail and run. Just before they could, they were interrupted by a chorus of loud and powerful roars.

A fog had formed over the entire base, a result from the reaper's laser cannons whenever they missed and hit the water instead, causing the water to evaporate instantly. Not to mention the wind was sending all the smoke from the burning city straight towards the base. When the defenders turned to see what had made those roars, all they saw was a blanket of fog. Anything behind it was obscured from the normal human eye. A few snipers that had mixed in the ranks in Red and Yellow line had thermal imagers imbedded into the scopes of their rifles. They shuddered at what they saw but for the marines defending Blue Line it was a complete mystery. And that scared the lot of them. Soldiers don't like mysteries and for good reason.

They came out of the fog like a childhood nightmare. They stood about eight feet tall with armor covering their bulky bodies that seemed to be thicker than a mako tank. Their heads seemed completely disproportioned on their bodies and seemed to vaguely resemble a turian. If a turian and a krogan ever went on a date, put back a few cold ones and made sweet love under the moonlight, their child would look something like that. There were twenty five of the giant bastards, all moving in a steady jog that didn't look possible for something that big.

Most, if not all of the marines could only stand there in utter shock. Finally, someone who must have faced the things before screamed out, calling them by name.

"Brutes!"

Irving assumed that this guy must have faced them down in the ruins of Rio proper. If that guy had faced them and lived… then these 'brutes' could be killed.

Slowly every other marine began to realize this as well and as one, Blue Line began to fight back.

However, their rounds harmlessly pinged off the thick Brute's armor. A couple pieces would fall off from the sustained fire but the brute line moved forward regardless. A couple lucky grenades made one of them stumble for a second before it fell dead. The brutes all stopped their charge and glanced at their fallen brother. The lead brute turned towards the marines and let out another more anger filled roar, sending his brothers from a steady jog into an all out sprint. When they did run, they ran with their heads tucked under their shoulder which was covered with the thickest armor plating.

Irving took aim and fired at the nearest brute. For the first time, Wolfe cursed his Valkyrie's three round burst capability. Each one of his shots simply bounced off the brute's armor. Irving let out a small curse and exchanged his rifle for his Crusader.

Activating his omni-tool, Wolfe used one of the many tricks hidden up his sleeve. This one being his specialized ammunition. It was a gift from Roman when Irving was first inducted into Sabre. The engineer had taught the marine how to use Incendiary, Armor piercing, and Disruptor ammo. Each one had been modified over the years but Irving's personal favorite was the Armor Piercing, which he presently activated.

The small yellow hued icon appeared on Irving's Crusader and the marine sent all four shots of his present clip into the brute's midsection. While chunks of the creature's armor were blown off completely, the Brute's hide was almost as thick as its outer armor. It then roared, rising up on both feet, pounding its chest like an ape.

Irving started utter every curse he could think of as the brute charged right for him. The N7 fumbled for a thermal clip to reload but abandoned that idea once the brute was in striking distance. As it dove, sweeping its arm out to take a powerful hook at the puny human before it, Irving saw that the end of its arm opened up into a claw, with razor sharp edges.

Irving ducked underneath the swipe, feeling the power behind the shot as it passed harmlessly over him. What he didn't expect was the rest of the brute's body sliding into him, sending the marine flying backwards where he would land painfully on his back.

The brute recovered from its missed strike fast and confidently strode over to the defenseless Wolfe, ready to finish him off.

A primal howl entered the mix and Irving saw Manny jump up onto the creature's back. The Columbian's Vindicator was missing and half of the N7s face was covered in red flowing blood. Nevertheless, Manny began to ride the brute like he was in a rodeo, using one hand to grab onto the brute's back while using the other, holding his tempest, to unleash a torment of fire into the creature's exposed back. The brute cried out in pain and it lashed out from side to side, trying to buck off the human on its back. After a few solid seconds, the brute finally fell dead, allowing the nimble N7 to roll off onto his feet.

The Columbian spat upon the reaperfied corpse, "welcome to earth _pendej_-"

Before Manny could finish his taunt another brute blindsided him, picking him up in his razor sharp claws.

Manny's expression was covered in a painful grimace as the brute lifted him up. Once eye level, the thrall roared loudly and squeezed its claws together. With little effort, it crushed Manny instantly. The N7s bones crumbled piercing his internal organs. In a cloud of blood, Manny's body went limp and the brute tossed his now dead body aside.

While the Brute was busy maiming his friend, Wolfe took this opportunity to rise to his feet and reload his Crusader. With the Armor Piercing ammo still activated, the four shots that were sent into the fiend's body causing the entire creature to get knocked back.

Luckily Irving wasn't alone. Silas and Alec -who had been working in tandem to bring down a brute of their own- witnessed Manny's death as well. Silas was foaming at the mouth, uttering every curse in both the English and Gaelic languages. The two instantly began to open up on the brute responsible, causing the creature to shriek in pain. Sarah, her head ever on a swivel, arrived as well, using her warp to literally tear apart the brute's armor and flesh.

The combined firepower of all four marines brought the fiend to its knees and with a final roar of misery, it fell dead.

Despite a battle raging around him, Silas walked up to Manny's bloodied and broken corpse in a dazed state. He fell to his knees and for the first time, Irving thought that the forty-six year old Irishman would break down. But somehow he didn't. Silas leaned over, gracefully closed his comrade's eyes and pulled off his dog-tags.

"Have a safe journey boyo. And be sure to put in a good word for us ye hear…"

Irving wanted nothing more than to grieve alongside his friend but he was still conscious of the battle raging around them. Blue Line was falling if it hadn't already. The small clusters of soldiers still alive were holding valiantly but it was in vain. When the brute line first collided with its human counterpart, the cannibals and husks had rejoined the fight and had begun advancing as well. When they began to mix in with the brutes –more were already showing up- they opened fire, putting down any exposed marines that were concentrating on the brutes.

"Silas," Irving began, trying to find his voice, "we need to move."

"Aye," McCullen said softly, "that we do mate. We need to show the reaper feckers what happens when you piss me the hell off."

Silas rose with fury in his eyes and made a b-line straight for blue line. Sarah and Alec exchanged a worried glance as Irving followed his friend into the fray.

"_All units fall back to yellow line. I repeat all units fall back to yellow line_!" Major Fisher ordered over the comm.

All four stopped dead in their tracks confused. To them, Blue Line was still in the fight. But they weren't seeing what Major Fisher was seeing.

XxxxxX

Fisher was huddled in his mock command center along side Haveford, Glaucner and Stromm, observing the battle via a 3D holographic display with a real time feed of the entire base. At the entrance to their little hut were their personal guards, rifles at the ready, vigilant in their duty to protect their superiors. With the AA guns wiped out, husks and cannibals were falling all over the perimeter. Nowhere was safe. Even the aid station was forced into a more defensible position, a group of cannibals having already breeched the area, killing seven injured marines and five civilian doctors.

On their monitors they saw as the brutes, cannibals and husks plowed into blue line. The defenders were holding, but by the skin of their teeth. If the reapers gained any momentum at all, any whatsoever, blue line would fall.

That surge was coming, it was inevitable. The reapers had already proven that they weren't stupid. They knew tactics and strategy, maybe even better than the four commanders inside that hut put together. They knew that all they needed to do in order to penetrate Blue Line was to give one final tap. Then it would be over and they would move onto yellow.

Fisher could already see it happening. The reapers were currently forming up for their rally blow. Husks were charging forth, forcing the marines to concentrate on them in order to prevent getting overwhelmed. Cannibals were using snipers and suppression fire to stale the defender in their quest to hold the husks. The brutes meanwhile were backing up the husks themselves soaking up most of the fire Blue Line was throwing at the horde.

While Fisher could see it forming, what he could not see was what the catalyst was going to be. The reapers had already used their first and second gambles. The first was the brute's initial arrival, using 'brute' force to simple trample the human defenders. The second had been more devious, the horde actually being a screen for the reapers themselves as they advanced slowly through the bay.

But now…

Fisher pooled everything he knew together in his mind. Everything the reapers had done to that city across the water had been calculated and carried out in an effective, brilliant and frightening manner. This was no different. No matter how many husks, cannibals, or brutes fell, the reapers knew that in order to win, the humans would need to kill the actual reapers. But that was kind of hard when you had thralls breathing down your neck, wasn't it?

"How long until the 182nd arrives?" asked Stromm to no-one in particular.

Haveford answered, sparing a glance at his omni-tool, "in about forty five minutes."

Fisher scoffed, "We can't last that long. In forty five minutes this place will be a grave."

"We're all aware of that fact, _major_," replied Glaucner emphasizing Fisher's rank, "but we don't exactly have a multitude of options here. We will hold out because we have to. There's no choice in the matter."

Fisher nodded and turned back to the display, "yes but have even considered how exactly we're getting off this rock? I mean with all those harvesters it's going to be-"

The words died in Fisher's mouth before he could utter them. He then realized what the next plan of attack the reapers were going to make. It was the harvesters. While before they were simply making passing runs on the base or doing the occasional fly by, none had really made any real contribution to battle. Now it seemed the reapers were playing another hand. Without those AA guns, the defenders at blue line would be all but helpless.

Fisher quickly opened a company wide comm. "All units fall back to yellow line. I repeat all units fall back to yellow line!"

He watched as the blue dots signifying his troopers slowly began to make their way towards the refuge of the second line. The reaper thralls quickly swarmed over the now defenseless Blue Line, chasing down the puny humans on the run.

Twenty-two out of seventy-nine marines managed to retreat from Blue Line although not all made it to the safety of yellow. The rest of the reaper troops, seeing the human line broken, began to mix ranks with their brutish brothers and began shooting down any marine they saw.

XxxxxX

Any sort of teamwork was gone at yellow line. It was every man for himself. If you saw an enemy, you held down the trigger until they fell. Ammo conservation was thrown out the window once the brutes had arrived. NCOs were desperately trying to keep order, forming groups of marines together, trying desperately to regain control of the situation. But sadly, every time one would make progress, a cannibal would shoot them dead.

Sarah was one of these officers, trying to rally those around her. She managed to prevent three formerly green troopers from simply hiding in cover and gave them enough gusto to actually start fighting back. She was about to rope in a fourth and a fifth but a cannibal sniper had a bead on her. The first shot luckily glanced off her shields causing them to flare and die. She allowed impulse and instinct to take over, diving into cover before the cannibal could fire again. It was still too close for comfort and she was able to feel the round as it sailed over her head.

Alec was several meters away. His new found love, the N7 Typhoon, had been lost. A Brute had charged a group of marines. One of them was sent flying in the young sergeant's direction, colliding with him and in the process, sending his new weapon flying away. With that out of reach, he was now focusing on counter sniping.

But that wasn't exactly accurate. Alec wasn't a sniper. He was a sharpshooter. There was a giant difference between the two. Snipers usually work alone or in pair and fight from long distances. Sharpshooters mingle with the common riflemen in the trenches, providing accurate fire support wherever needed.

So, in technical terms, Alec was counter sharpshooting. Whenever he would spot a sniper through the scope of his Valiant, he would put the abomination down before it could cause any further harm. He had already eliminated nine snipers and was in the process of tracking a tenth when he spotted the one taking shots at Sarah.

Alec slowed his breathing down to a crawl, doing his best to still his beating heart. He fell back on his training, tuning out the battle raging around him. All of his focus was on that sniper. The cannibal was currently behind cover, peering out just enough so that it could spot Sarah but still be concealed enough so that Alec couldn't make an accurate shot.

Alec himself used this time to place the crosshairs where he presumed the cannibals head would appear when it decided to pop out of hiding. He then adjusted his aim for distance and made sure to take notice of the wind. By the time he made his adjustments, the crosshair were nearly an entire inch away from the imaginary straight line between Alec and his adversary.

Finally the cannibal appeared, drawn out once Sarah rose to eliminate trio of husks that were charging a small gap in the line. Alec fired once and only once. At first it looked like the round might carry wide right but then the wind and the force of gravity put it back on the proper path. With a satisfying spray of blood and cybernetics, the cannibal sniper fell dead.

Alec simply smirked and moved on to find another target.

Yellow Line was able to deal with the influx of brutes much more easily than Blue Line was able to. A volley of rockets and grenades were sent forth into the reaper horde obliterating anything it came into contact with. But for every thrall that was killed it seemed a dozen took its place. There was no end to amount of troops the reapers had in reserve, it seemed limitless. But the defenders took comfort knowing that for every husk, cannibal or brute killed, that was one more second or two they had in order to await the arrival of the 182nd Scout Flotilla.

With scores of the reaper troops falling, the defender's morale was bolstered. But eventually even that was swatted aside when the reapers themselves began to open up again. Scores of marines were blown to bits and entire walls of infrastructure were destroyed. Debris rained down upon the entire complex, showering everyone and everything in dust and concrete.

Irving was doing his best to remain fight, trying with all his might not to succumb to the urge to duck for cover. In cover or not, it would be for naught if anything big enough landed on him. Wolfe would rather be crushed fighting, inside of being crushed hiding.

He was in the process of taking down a cannibal when he suddenly felt his shields die. Before he could even consider seeking cover, something slammed into his chest and penetrated his armor. He didn't need to be a rocket scientist to realize he'd been shot.

He tried to call for a medic only to find himself spiting out blood. The round must have hit something sensitive. Irving's vision began to darken and his hearing began to get impaired. Soon everything around him was just blobs of obscure color and the entire word sounded like he was underwater.

The act of breathing was laughable. Every passing second the simple and instinctual act grew harder and harder to do. It was then that he realized that his was lying on his back. A quick glance at his chest and he could see the entry hole and the blood forming around it. A muffled groan emanated from his lips when a surge of pain raked his entire body.

_So this is what dying feels like... weird… _

Sarah had just finished off a brute although she would give some credit to the burly dark skinned marine holding the rocket launcher. She knelt back into cover to reload, glancing around to see if there were any more gaps that needed to be filled.

Silas was fighting like a madman, yelling taunts a throwing curses as if the cannibals he was firing upon would actually be physically wounded by them, Irving was lying on the ground desperately reaching for his rifle, blood from a bullet wound forming in a circular pool around him. Alec was sighting down a cannibal who fire was pinning-

Sarah's attention snapped back to the prone form of Gunnery Chief Wolfe as the marine's face contorted in pain, blood trickling down the side of his mouth, his eyes wide and full of determination. Without thinking, Sarah darted from the safety of the fallen pillar she was huddled behind and dashed towards Irving.

When she arrived, Irving had barely noticed her.

"M-My… gun… have to…. Gotta get…"

Although Sarah didn't know it, there was a purpose to Irving's actions. While dementia and blood loss were definitely playing a factor, the burly N7 was keeping his mind busy. Even with something as simply as reaching for his rifle, Irving was occupying his mind to focus on anything other than the pain and the fact that he was slowly dying. It was a purely mental thing. It wouldn't change his fate if he didn't receive medical attention but it would make his passing easier.

Sarah didn't hesitate calling for a corpsman. She had to repeat the order several times before a balding man with a thick mustache appeared. The medic opened his omni-tool and waved it over the wounded marine's body. Sarah was alarmed when Irving began to laugh, uncontrollably so. In fact he was laughing so hard that Sarah was forced to hold him down.

"Damn it!" the medic cursed.

"What?"

"The round didn't exit, which means that it's still inside his body. It didn't hit anything vital but we need to get it out."

Sarah didn't wait a second longer than necessary, "Do it."

A cry over the battle gave them a moments pause, "Incoming!"

The medic, using his body as a shield, fell over Irving's chest, a move designed to keep any debris from getting inside.

"I can't do this here," the corpsman said once the dust settled, "help me get him back to the aid station."

Sarah wasted no time in helping the medic unfold the stretcher on his back. Getting Irving onto that stretcher was a whole different tale. The marine was rather heavy, his armor adding to his natural weight. But somehow the two managed it. Although he didn't look it, the medic was actually quite strong. Sarah was no slouch either, her biotics enhancing her strength immensely, but that guy's was all natural.

"On three," the medic said as he braced to lift on end while Sarah readied herself on the other.

"One, two, three," and with that, both of them hefted Irving up and began to head towards the aid station.

That was easier said than done. Cannibals were doing their damnedest to hit anyone carrying a stretcher. It was an old tactic humanity had learned long ago. Wound one man, make him cry for help, shoot those who come. On many battlefields it was still practiced, although those that did it didn't go into too much detail when writing their after action reports.

More than once, Sarah and the medic, Luca he called himself, were forced to changed course and take an alternate route. The harvesters had arrived, landing upon the remains of blue line and sending their payloads towards the defenders of yellow. All the while, cannibal snipers were taking the occasional potshot at them and more than once Sarah's shields flared. Irving was going to owe her big for this.

When they finally arrived at the aid station they were almost killed by a couple husks who had landed via flame ball. Luckily the station was guarded by the Volunteers and they put down the husks with a little too much gusto.

"Set him there," Luca ordered.

Sarah force herself to ignore all the wounded around her. The ones that worried her were not those crying out for their mothers as the medics did their best to close their bleeding wounds, it was those that weren't screaming.

Sarah shook her head from her roaming thoughts and carefully set Irving down. As she did, she slipped on a puddle of something warm and wet and nearly dropped her wounded comrade before recovering.

"Careful," Luca reminded.

Once on the ground and with nothing to threaten the medic as he worked, Luca set right to work. A nurse was at his side in seconds and Sarah was alarmed to see the front of her scrubs covered in blood.

Sarah toned out Luca as he began to order his nurse around, asking for utensils and sending her to prepare an IV. Instead she stared at Irving, the burly marine's eye were closed shut. He was mumbling something too but it was so faint, Sarah couldn't hear it.

She was forced to turn her head when Luca began to dig around in Irving's chest before coming up with a small piece of metal the size of her toe-nail.

"There, got it."

As her friend's skin began to grow paler, the medic quickly added a shot of medi-gel and almost immediately his breathing returned to normal. After a couple seconds, Wolfe's eyes fluttered and opened.

"Ugh… what… what happened?" he asked slurring his words.

"You got shot," Sarah replied.

"No shit Sherlock," Irving said with a chuckle before his faced grimaced once more, "hurts like a bitch though."

The medic stood, taking off his gloves, "You should be in the clear. I would suggest staying here until-"

"Negative," Irving said slowly rising to his feet, "I got to get back in the fight."

"Sir you are wounded and medi-gel will only do so much. You need to see a proper medical physician," the medic argued.

"I didn't after Torfan," Irving said with a snarl making Sarah's head snap over to him, "and I wont now. My rifle," he stated with his hand out.

"Gunnery Chief, I'm giving you a direct-"

"My rifle," Irving stated once more with an edge to his voice. Sarah had only known him a short time but if looks could kill, the medic would be a corpse.

Reluctantly, Luca handed over Irving's weapons to which the marine slapped on to their magnetic plates.

"Thank you," he said much more softly this time but still somehow managed to sound pissed, "for saving my life."

And with that, Irving turned and began heading back to the fight. Sarah was at his side in seconds.

"You sure you're fit for duty?"

"A little stiff but I'm still in it ma'am."

Sarah nodded and let the matter drop for now. There a million questions racing through her mind right then, especially about Torfan, but there was battle to be fought and she decided that once they were safe she'd ask. That or they would both be dead and the point would be lost any way.

When they arrived at the outskirts of the aid station they were surprised to see that the men and women guarding it were running off towards the battle. Sarah stopped one and asked what they were doing.

"Yellow line's been pushed back. We're being sent to the front."

Without another word the two N7s spared a glanced at each other and charged off into the fray once more.

Red line was surrounded. Before the battle had started, the defenders witnessed a few of the reapers shed off what looked to be pieces of their armor. Only now did they realize that it was husks being unloaded. Those husks launched a surprise attack on the defenders flank, launching attacks from both sides whilst the rest of the horde attacked from the front.

Silas and Alec were back to back. The former was using his pistol, long abandoning his Argus' slow rate of fire and switching to something with more speed. It didn't pack as much of a punch but a head shot was still a head shot regardless and Silas was putting down husks rapidly. The latter was back to using his Valkyrie rifle to put down any cannibals he saw.

The fighting had gone into close quarters combat once the reaper's flanking maneuver was completed. Marines were attacking with their omni-blades, combat knives, and even in a few cases, pieces of debris. The thralls had no problem with this arrangement and were allowing their husks and brutes to deal with that while the cannibals sat back and fired at anyone they saw.

Irving and Sarah's arrival -along with the eleven volunteers who were guarding the aid station- plugged a few holes that were springing up but the fight was already lost. Although they didn't know it, a harvester had bombed Fisher's command tent, killing the four commanders inside of it. The acting commander was now Staff Lieutenant Bridges who was doing his best to hold the line. But there were some things that were beyond mortal hands.

If god was real, he took pity on his children and sent in the one thing that was able to save their sorry asses from damnation.

One of the smaller reapers had gotten in close, the rest idly standing back, observing their thralls rip the human's defenses apart. Once again everything had happened for a reason. The pincer move had forced the marines to clump together. One shot for a reaper and the battle would be over, the defenders being obliterated with a single shot.

The reaper was so close that the defenders could see the energy for its main gun building up behind it. Like soldiers worthy of praise, the defenders continued to fight, despite the fact that their death was inevitable.

But as it was about to fire, something, a missile perhaps, was launched right at it, hitting it right in the face. The reaper let out a mechanical roar in either pain or annoyance and turned to engage the new threat.

A small fleet of Trident Interceptors and Griffon Bombers flew past, blanketing the entire area controlled by the reapers in a brilliant display of explosives. With the reapers' back ranks in disarray, the defenders used this to push the line back and gained some ground. Instead of it being a hopeless turkey shoot, it was back into a grueling slugfest.

Like a message from the almighty himself, a voice cascaded over the entire comm. net, "_This is the Trident wing Hell's Angels, you are all clear Rio Villa… I repeat all clear_."

If they weren't under fire still the marines would have cheered their asses off. The Griffon bombers were making passes over the reaper thralls while the Tridents were moping up the harvesters. Added to that another fleet of Mantis Gunships arrived and began to add even more firepower to the bloodied marines.

A company wide announcement went over comms and a Indian accented female voice rang out, "…_regarding all survivors of Rio Villa, this is Rear Admiral Ishnay of the SSV Prince Charles, responding to your distress signal. Unfortunately, with all the hostiles, I can't be there to meet you in person. However, I will be sending shuttles down to extract all of you. Just be patient and hold the line. We are coming_."

With all the tridents and griffons clearing up the sky, the defenders were lulled into a fantasy of being able to hold out a little longer. That was until the reapers deployed another morale shattering move.

A swarm of what looked like red flying eyes descended onto the Alliance interceptors and bombers. They were mechanical constructs with a red center and a long cylindrical body. Whenever they fired, a smaller version of the reaper's beam cannon appeared and was able to take out a trident or griffon in two shots or less.

The _Hell's Angels_ responded quickly and moved to engage this new threat. Their actions were also drawing the reapers' attention and most turned to shoot down any Alliance craft they saw. The tridents and bombers weren't simply torn apart, being able to hold their own rather well, but there were casualties.

With the situation at least somewhat salvageable, Commander Bridges informed his troopers that the evac Kodiaks were on their way but they were going to get the civilians and wounded out first.

When the first shuttle appeared, a group of ten marines descended from it and headed straight for the remains of red line. A couple others stayed back and began to usher forth the first group of civilians, namely children.

After the fifth shuttle was whisked away, the defenders began to load up their wounded. Sarah saw that one of the stretchers was occupied by the medic Luca who had saved Irving's life. The man was bleeding profusely from his head, mostly likely the victim of some blunt force trauma. Surprisingly she saw Alicia was holding up the man's IV, running alongside him until they disappeared from view and into the Kodiak.

Alec was so focused into the fight that it took both Irving and Silas to pry him away from the line. Something had snapped in him during the battle. He felt feral. Every movement was beyond him, as if he was being controlled by some sadistic puppeteer. If he wasn't wearing his Death Mask, his eyes would have been wide and full of some primal fury.

But that all faded at the thought of Alicia. He had to survive for her. His trance ended and he slowly made his way towards the nearest Kodiak with Irving, Sarah and Silas at his side. No orders were issued between them because none were needed. The fought, holding their own mini line, slowly backing up towards the shuttle while killing anything that got within their field of view. When someone needed to reload, they called it out and relied on their teammates to pick up the slack, which they did.

Finally, he felt his foot bump into the edge of the Kodiak and in one swift motion, he jumped inside before turning around and opening fire once again. Next aboard was Sarah, Irving not far behind. Silas was the last to reach, a couple marines behind him were shot dead before they could board and to cement their fates, the Irishman shut the hatch and the Kodiak slowly gained altitude before darting towards the horizon.

"Let's never do that again," stated Sarah as she found the nearest available seat to which Irving silently agreed. They were only airborne for a moment when Silas yelled to the pilot.

"Oi, mate, set us down!"

Irving looked around in confusion. Had they forgotten somebody?

"What's going on?"

Silas ignored Irving's question until the Kodiak landed. When the hatch opened Silas jumped out into the dense wooden area. The entire sky was alit with red and orange from the fires blazing away in Rio and the reapers as they slowly destroyed Rio Villa piece by piece. In the distance, Sarah could see the _Hell's Angels_ as they duked it out with their reaper counterparts. More than anything she just wanted to leave this entire nightmare behind.

"Silas," Irving yelled, trying to gain his friend's attention.

McCullen turned with a somber look upon his face.

"I'm not leaving, Irving," the Irishman simply stated.

Irving could only shake his head, "Silas, now isn't the time for your macho bullshit! We need to leave!"

"Negative. My fight is 'ere. Yers is out there."

Irving rushed to the edge, brandishing his rifle, "if you're staying, I am too!"

Silas turned on him; his face contorted in sheer determination, "No lad. I've been a soldier since you were in diapers. This is my home. I'm not going to watch it burn and not do anything about it. You're fight is up there and you know it."

Irving sighed in defeat and shook his head, "where will you go?"

"North," he said with a nod towards that general direction, "From what I've heard Anderson is rallying a resistance movement and he'll need all the help he can get."

Silas turned to walk away before turning once more, "Any of you lads want in, now's yer chance."

Only two marines departed from the Kodiak. They quickly went to Silas' side and began scanning the perimeter.

"Silas… if you can find Collin…" Irving's voice trailed but Silas understood his meaning regardless.

"If he's alive I find him. I'll keep him breathing."

The two looked upon each other for what could be the last time they did so with mortal eyes. Silas nodded in Alec's direction and gave Sarah a crisp salute.

"Good luck," Sarah said softly.

Silas smiled, "Don't worry yer pretty head about me lass," he said as the Kodiak began to take off, "I don't need luck, I was born lucky."

When the doors finally closed, Sarah watched as Irving simply stood there, fists clenched. Finally he retreated to his own small corner of the Kodiak and hung his head, eyes closed.

Sarah instead chose to let out that breath she had been holding and let her nerves slowly calm themselves down. She was safe now. Slowly she turned to Alec.

"By the way, I saw Alicia. She's alright. She got out with one of the wounded personnel transports."

"Was she-"

"She was fine, Alec. She was assisting. When I saw her she was alive and well."

Alec let out a sigh of relief and silently thanked whatever god was watching out for him and his sister. He idly played with the idea that his mother was keeping an ever watching gaze on her children from heaven and that helped calm him down.

After all, that was just one more person watching your back.

XxxxxX

The battle of Rio Villa would later go down as a Victorious Defeat. Despite the contradiction, the soldiers who defended the N7 headquarters had managed to save all of the civilians that had been there and under their protection. But it was at a heavy cost. Out of the 462 defenders spread out over the four constructs, only 58 survived.

The 58 survivors would be spread out through the entire war. At the war's end only 7 of them remained alive to tell the tale of the Battle for Rio Villa. Years later, a plaque was erected to commemorate those that had participated in the battle and had fallen.

The seven veterans often visited the memorial. It was their duty to those that had died. They had the courage to accept death as their duty. The survivors had the respect to honor that sacrifice. On that plaque was a four worded sentence above the names of all those who had died. The designer, being one of the seven, had chosen those four words specifically. Some times less was best and those words said everything and anything one could say about those who had lost their lives at Rio Villa.

It read:

_For Courage, Duty, and Honor_


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning!  
**This story may contain substances not suitable to all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

Everything Mass Effect belongs to EA and Bioware.

**FOR DUTY, COURAGE AND HONOR**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**The Skies Above Rio Villa  
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America  
****Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster  
2186**

Flight Captain Nathan _Bat-Shit_ Carter was one of many pilots dueling with the reapers in the skies above Rio de Janeiro. He had been a pilot for the last fifteen years but had only begun flying for the last eight.

Nathan knew he was born to fly. A shame he was born human though. In the sky he felt truly alive, a place where he felt like he belonged.

The F-61 Trident made Nathan's dreams of flying come true. The craft was sleek and extremely mobile. It had thick armor and decent shielding along with a small eezo booster for those hairy situations, giving the craft a small boost to its already high top speed, easily breaking mach five.

The weapons systems made any sane man shudder and any potentially insane man smile with glee. The main weapon was a miniature mass effect cannon, able to fire with lock-on or free-fire capabilities but no self-respecting pilot would ever dare to fire without a proper lock-on. It fired a miniature slug that could easily penetrate armor and shields. The only draw back was that it had to cool down after every shot. The secondary was an eezo powered fully automatic 15mm Rail-Gun. Going full auto was ill-advised and instructors taught their pilots to fire in small bursts since they arrived at the Alliance flight school in Melbourne, Australia.

Nathan was the leader of the Hell's Angels wing. He had been for the past three years. There were forty Tridents in the entire wing with an additional ten B-90 Griffon Bombers. The entire wing itself was split up into four squadrons ranging from Alpha to Delta. Delta itself was put together for the Griffons solely but they did have a few F-19 Falcon Fighters for escort duty. Each squadron had no more than six Mantis gunships, each outfitted for bombing and strafing runs. At this point though, thirteen Tridents had been shot down, all but two Griffons were still flying, four mantis Gunships were still airborne and only seven Falcon Fighters remained. Nevertheless the Hell's Angels were holding their own.

"_This is HA-21; I got two bogeys on my six. My wingman is dead, calling for assistance_," a pilot called over the radio. The man was unnaturally calm despite having two Oculi on his tail.

Nathan, who had just finished of an Oculus of his own responded, "This is Bat-Shit Actual, responding. Give me ten seconds 2-1 and I'll be there."

It took even less to find 2-1 and Nathan recognized the pilot as Lieutenant Harvey _Two-Cents_ Kramer from Bravo Squadron. The man was doing everything in his arsenal to avoid getting shot down but it was only a matter of time before the Oculi got a bead on him.

Looking over to his right, Nathan spotted his own wingman, Lieutenant Michelle _Lucky_ Belmont. Her nickname was well earned. Despite being only a Lieutenant, Belmont had flown over both Elysium and Torfan. She was shot down both times yet both times she survived.

"_Hey Cap, you want this or can I have it_?" Belmont playfully asked as they moved into position.

Nathan chuckled, "ladies first Belmont."

He could practically hear her smile as she moved her trident behind the rear Oculus. Nathan himself drew back, covering Belmont's six.

"_I have tone… fox-two_," He heard Belmont report as she sent a mass accelerator slug straight into her target. An explosion rocked the side of the Oculus where the slug hit. The Oculus stuttered for a moment before exploding. Belmont deftly avoided the ensuing carnage, rolling right around it.

As Belmont waited for her cannon to cool down, she drew back allowing Nathan to bring his trident to take up her position. He quickly lined up the opposing Oculus as it strafed his comrade, Kramer doing his best to not give the enemy and easy target. Finally the Oculus was painted, its outline flashing green on his Heads-Up-Display telling the pilot that he had a positive lock-on.

"I have tone… fox three," Nathan uttered as he pulled the trigger on his primary weapon. The slug flew from the barrel… and missed. At the last second the Oculus dipped the side, the slug passing harmlessly by.

Suddenly the reaper craft realized that it was being fired upon and broke off its attack. With Kramer clear, the pilot turned away, finally catching his breath.

"You good 2-1?" Nathan breathed into his helmet radio.

"_Yeah, thanks for the assist_," Kramer answered.

"No problem. I'll take care of this bastard. Rendezvous with the rest of Bravo."

"_Roger that Cap. Happy hunting_."

Nathan didn't bother to respond. Instead his busied himself with trying to reposition himself behind the Oculus. The damn things were almost as maneuverable as he was, maybe even more. Their circular design made them hard to hit, the Oculi having a tendency to barrel roll away from danger almost on a dime. Added to that they were making moves that would kill a normal man, denying the g-forces pushing against them. Nathan was already chalking them up to being drones.

The Oculus then pulled a similar moved, barrel rolling away from Nathan and using gravity to push itself behind him. Nathan winced when the first red beam streaked across his canopy. He needed to think.

"Goddamn Mike Foxtrot, I'm painted…Hey Lucky?" Nathan called out to his wingman.

"_Yeah Cap, you need an assist_?" his wingman answered.

"You remember that little skirmish over Caleston?"

"_Back in '84? Yeah I remember_."

"Good, because were about to have a small history lesson," he chuckled, "I'm bring him over to you. You better be ready."

"_Come on Cap, when have I ever let you down_?"

Nathan, despite remembering a certain incident involving shore leave, alcohol, and a bar fight, simply replied, "Just be ready."

Nathan turned his interceptor around, passing through the main frenzy of intermingled Oculi, Falcons and Tridents. At one point he saw a Harvester blindside a member of Charlie and rip open his canopy. It bit down on the exposed airman and tossed his mangled body aside before taking flight once more. The trident, now unmanned entered into a downward spiral where it would eventually crash into the water.

Nathan turned his head and began to scan the skies for his wingman. Sure enough he saw her, heading straight for him. Nathan turned, slightly to the right, allowing the Oculus to get a bead on him. Just before the craft opened fire, a slug came streaking in from Belmont's trident and slammed right into the side of the Oculus. A plume of smoke emanated from the side until it finally decided to die and slowly fell from the sky.

"Nice shooting Lucky," praised Nathan.

"_That's a case of that beer from Sirona you got last shore leave_."

Nathan balked, "that half of my stash!"

"_Stop making me save your ass then_," came the snide reply.

"I heard that lucky."

"_Yep, that's because I transmitted it_."

Nathan watched as the last shuttle took off from Rio Villa. Strangely it made a quick pit-stop on the outskirts of the city before taking off once again. Nodding, Nathan opened up a company wide comm.

"This is the CAG, all units break off and return to base. I repeat, return to base. Let go home boys and girls. Play time is over."

One by one the Hell's Angels began to make their way skyward. Once they exited the atmosphere, they powered up their FTL drives and made the seamless jump back to their home aboard the Prince Charles.

**Undisclosed Alliance Facility  
2178  
Four weeks after Initial Invasion of Torfan**

_The room was dark. Only a small overhanging light offered any illumination and even then it only gave a small three foot radius. Everything else was set in dark shadows._

_From what the occupant chained to the lone table in room could see the only thing occupying the room was the simple metal table he was chained to, an ashtray, a pack of generic military issued cigarettes and a holo-recorder._

"_Please state your name for the record," said the only other living member in the room. Any chance at identifying the person was eliminated since they were positioned just outside the lamp's illuminated radius. All he could tell was that they were female._

_A stark contrast to his previous interrogator, at least this one sounded human._

"_Corporal Irving Wolfe," the man replied, "2__nd__ platoon, Echo Company, 15__th__ Infantry Division."_

_The interrogator leaned forward to pick up the holo-recorder and Wolfe noticed the distinct colors of an alliance dress uniform._

"_Very good," the female interrogator said sharply, "now… do you know why I am here?"_

_Wolfe took a moment to ponder this. As he thought he leaned forward and claimed a cigarette from the pack. It was only then he realized he didn't have a lighter._

"_Got a light?" he asked his questioner who responded by tossing a small lighter from the darkness. It landed and bounced off the table once, causing a normally soft tink to echo in the small confined space. Wolfe proceeded to catch the lighter before it could bounce away from his grasp and lit his cancer stick. A pale blue-grey smoke immediately began to rise from the cigarette causing an artificial cloud to form in the lightened areas around the table._

_Wolfe took another minute to take a couple drags before tapping the ashes into the provided ashtray._

"_What was the question again?"_

"_Why do you think I am here?" asked the woman with a slightly annoyed tone of voice._

"_Ah, yes… frankly I don't know, nor do I care. But I will go out on a limb and guess that it has something to do with Torfan or my related capture," Wolfe said mockingly._

_The woman paused to jot something down on her own pad that surprisingly offered no additional light as to reveal her identity._

"_That is closer to the truth than you would think, Corporal. I want to know of your experiences. I want to know what happened down there. But more specifically I want to know how you escaped."_

_Wolfe scoffed, "everything you want to know is in my report. I landed planetside three days after the initial assault and secured my landing zone with the rest of my platoon. That night my squad got ambushed and everyone still breathing was captured, myself included. We were tortured for about a week until I managed to escape. Ironically it was actually when the rest of my platoon stormed the place so… twenty-twenty hindsight I guess."_

_A pair of fists slammed onto the table in a fit of anger, "enough bullshit. I don't want a generalized version, I want facts. I want a detailed account of what transpired. So far you managed to convince everyone else around here on your 'version' of what happened but I'm not going to be convinced so easily."_

_Wolfe was silent as he faced down the woman's outburst stoically. He puffed down the rest of his cigarette before stubbing it out._

"_Fine," he finally conceded after a minute or two of starring into the shadows, "but I have a few conditions."_

_The woman was silent for a moment, "We'll see. What are they?"_

_Wolfe smiled, "one, no interruptions. Two, I want a guarantee that nothing I say will come back to bite me in the ass. Three… can I have something to drink?"_

_The woman sighed and Wolfe heard a chair sliding across the floor as she rose to her feet. Again he managed to catch a glimpse of the woman uniform as she leaned forward to stand. What he did see was a rank, the rank of Captain._

_Seconds later, the woman returned with a small cup of water. Wolfe picked it up, "this is it?"_

"_That's it. You never said how much you wanted."_

_Wolfe chuckled, "touché captain."_

_The woman was silent, possibly stunned._

_Wolfe gobbled down a sip before waving his free hand dismissively, "don't worry, I'm not psychic. I saw your rank on your uniform when you stood up."_

_The woman was silent for another moment before adding, "You didn't really want a drink, did you?"_

_Wolfe let out a chuckle, "not really, I wanted to see who I'm dealing with. I know you're alliance; I know you're a captain. However that simply raises more questions than answers. What's your name?"_

"_I'm asking the questions here."_

"_If you don't tell me your name, I'm going to have to make it up," he replied._

_Silence._

"_Fine… how about… Bob?"_

_More silence._

"_It's a shit name I know but think about what I have to work with."_

_The woman leaned forward slightly allowing a strand of black hair to fall into view, "It's Joanna."_

_Wolfe smiled, "you see? That wasn't so hard. We're like best friends already."_

_The woman, Joanna, sighed, "Okay Corporal… I will concede to your conditions. Now will you please get on with it?"_

"_Very well. As you are no doubt aware, we have a colony out in the Verge called Elysium. Well, seeing as we built it from practically nothing, the colonists decide to throw a party. Balloons, cake, party hats, they had it all. It was a blast let me tell you. However they forgot to invite the batarians who were understandably insulted by that. So they decided to crash said party, in the form of slavers and raiders… I think one of them popped out of a cake but that's hearsay."_

_Wolfe paused to take another drag from his cigarette, "Well, a whole bunch of people died. But then again that's how the bats have-"_

"_You're getting on my nerves corporal. Enough games. What does this have to do with anything?!"_

"_Well, Captain Joanna, a good story must have a good premise, a back story if you will… What I'm trying to do is explain why we attacked Torfan."_

"_Because of the blitz, I know."_

"_Yes… in less words. I liked my version better, had more flair to it, no?"_

"_Just… go on…" Joanna said with an annoyed sigh._

"_Very well. I was just a Lance Corporal at the time, stationed on Eden Prime with the 99__th__ garrison. It was dull but then again garrison duty is basically glorified guard duty. I was in my barracks when I first heard that Elysium got attacked. I remember all of us just standing around watching the vid. All that destruction and death… it was horrible. Luckily there were a few people who survived, fought back. They gave the slavers one hell of a bloody nose before the fleet came and obliterated the slavers in orbit."_

"_The point, get to it!"_

"_Fine… fine… I'm going to skip a few years ahead though. Somehow my transfer request got through and… a friend of mine and I got whisked away to the 15__th__."_

"_The Fifteenth was the division responsible for the entire northern flank correct?" asked the captain._

"_It seems someone did her homework but you're getting too far ahead…"_

**Kodiak Transport  
In Transit, Local Cluster  
2186**

Irving Wolfe jolted awake. His dreams have been reoccurring more and more lately greatly affecting his sleeping patterns. Gaining at least three hours of sleep was a rather glorious achievement in the scarred marine's mind.

It was strange that he had thought of Captain Joanna. He hadn't heard from her in almost two years. What had brought that on, he had no idea. But the interrogation he received from the short fused woman began to bring up memories that he would more or less like to forget. As always his efforts were in vain.

Fixing his posture, Irving glanced around at the other six occupants of the transport. Most were asleep, passing out where they were seated. Sarah was asleep upright, her eyes close firmly. Alec was right next to her in the same position but still clutching his rifle. The other four passengers were normal grunts who had managed to survive. They were either asleep in their seats or leaned up against the hull on the ground.

After the Hell's Angels gave them enough time to escape and Silas departed, the pilot had wasted no time in heading straight upwards, passing easily through the white clouds of the thermosphere and into the starry backdrop of the exosphere.

Irving was shocked with what he saw. When the whole ordeal began, he was simply having a peaceful lunch with his younger brother Collin. _God it already felt like another lifetime_. He had noticed what looked to be falling meteors plummeting planetside. But now, he could see that they were, in fact, the remains of starships.

They were _human_ starships, numbering in the low hundreds. It was easy to guess that the reapers had pulverized an entire fleet above earth. Even from this distance he could see the fires of the domed Luna colonies as they mercilessly continued to burn. The fires from the damage the reapers caused when they attacked was still evident, the smoke harmlessly passing into nothing as it entered the deprived atmosphere of earth's one and only moon.

The rest of the group gathered had similar reactions to Irving's. Each was stunned and amazed on the sheer level of destruction. It was depressing that they couldn't spot a single reaper carcass.

After having a short conversation with the pilot, Sarah had learned that Arcturus Station, the home of the System Alliance Parliament and the military's High Command, was completely destroyed. Intel suggested that it was the first casualty when the reapers invaded human space. She was told that Executive Order Saber One had been declared, ordering a full retreat from the Sol System. Any one left behind was to conduct guerilla warfare until reinforcements arrived. When that would be or if that was at all possible no one dared to say.

The last Alliance presence inside the local cluster was the 182nd Scout Flotilla, their current destination. The pilot said that they just had enough fuel to make the round trip to earth and back, which relieved Sarah since she had no desire to be stranded in the nothingness of space.

After informing her group of the conversation she retreated to the spot where she would eventually pass out. The trip would take a little over two hours standard FTL travel –access to the Charon Relay was strictly prohibited and only the suicidal would try and reach it- and she wasn't going to wait another moment to give herself some rest.

As such, Irving was left with little else to do but think… again.

Silas was a tough son-of-a-bitch and Irving knew that there was a good possibility that the ornery Irishman would survive. It was Collin that worried him the most. His younger brother was not built for combat; he didn't have the right mentality for it. In Irving's mind, he was going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. As he did with most of his life.

When the shuttle finally exited FTL, the similar sensation of returning to normal space woke almost everyone up. Alec was the only one to practically sleep right through it and Sarah was forced to shake him awake.

Finally the 182nd Scout Flotilla came into view. There were only three ships left out of the seven ship Flotilla. It's Flagship, the Carrier SSV Prince Charles, floated magnificently in between the flotilla's only cruiser, the SSV Belfast, and the sole surviving frigate, the SSV Bull Run.

There was a buzz of activity around the Prince Charles. Like bees around a hive, a swarm of Trident Interceptors and Falcon Fighters were keeping anything that looked hostile away from the carrier. As their shuttle approached, a wing broke off and headed into their direction. Once the Tridents confirmed that Sarah and her party were Alliance, they were given clearance to land inside the Prince Charles's hanger.

The hanger bay doors opened horizontally to let them in. Once they made touchdown, the doors closed behind them, allowing the compartment to become pressurized and a wave of recycled artificial air to fill the large room.

Before anyone could exit, the Kodiak was gently lowered into an area below the actual hanger and into another deck. A mass effect barrier kept the lower room pressurized whenever the top one would open.

When the elevator stopped and the hatch of the Kodiak opened, the first thing Alec saw was the deck crew of the Prince Charles, already working to lock down the hanger and getting the entire bay ready for the inevitable jump into FTL.

The hanger was massive, running along the entire underbelly of the ship. Hundreds of Tridents, Falcons, and Griffons laid idle, their pilots and crews working on fixing them up from their excursions on Earth. A few were unmarked and the crews were busy fueling them up.

The second thing he saw was the small greeting party waiting for them. The woman in the middle, decked out in a naval officer's uniform, stepped forward. Alec as well as the other six marines of the Kodiak took in the Major's insignia on her uniform and snapped off into a quick salute. The Major returned it and allowed the soldiers to stand at attention.

"Welcome to the SSV Prince Charles, I am the ship's Executive Officer, Major Visyris. Rear Admiral Ishnay requests the N7s presence in the CIC as soon as possible," she turned to the other four marines who had escaped Rio Villa along with the N7s, "The rest of you, deposit your gear with the quartermaster on deck four. After that you will be escorted to your temporary housing. Dismissed."

Sarah did her best not to sneer at the Major's back. They had just survived hell itself and the woman wasn't able to give them the time of day. In fact, her attitude suggested that she despised the presence of any N7s on her ship.

Without even thinking she uttered, "That's one hell of a welcoming party."

Standing beside her, Irving shrugged, "she's probably got a lot on her mind. Come on, we shouldn't keep the Admiral waiting."

After saying goodbye to the marines they had shared the shuttle with and offering the pilot their thanks as well, the three N7s walked into the elevator and slowly ascended towards the CIC.

Predictably Irving was already fidgeting within a few seconds of the elevator's ascent. Sarah could tell that the man despised all form of inactivity and she couldn't blame him. She was a soldier and with people dying in the thousands, perhaps millions, back on earth, the last thing any of them wanted to be doing was riding a slow moving elevator.

Finally the elevator chimed and opened to reveal the CIC. The entire deck was bustling with activity. Communications officers were constantly intercepting and sending transmissions, coordinating anything that crossed their desks. Alec heard one of the technicians report to his Commanding Officer.

"Sir, all units present and accounted for," he reported.

"How many?" His commander asked.

"Out of the entire wing? Only 12 percent, sir."

Alec brushed it away and continued walking. He passed by a group of analysts as they tried desperately to decode the reapers' transmission but each time they cracked through one firewall, they were presented with another more complex one. There were also a small group of medical doctors and quartermasters fighting desperately to get whatever supplies they could. In short it was pure chaos.

Admiral Ishnay was in the heart of it all. She was a petite woman, probably only five foot five but was still able to stand a head taller than anyone around her. She had long grayish hair that was tied behind her head into a bun and was leaning over the holographic display of the galaxy map.

Her head perked up to the three N7s approaching her and it was only then that they saw the bags of exhaustion under her eyes. The poor woman probably didn't get a moments rest since the whole ordeal began. Nevertheless she spoke with strong conviction, mixed with her thick Indian one that displayed no hint of her eagerness to find some sleep.

"At ease," she said when the three N7s snapped off into a salute, "welcome to the Prince Charles. Unfortunately for you we have no more room for you in the crew deck but the Belfast has told me that they are understaffed as of late. Take a shuttle and report to Captain Loren for reassignment."

"Aye ma'am," the three of them said as they turned away and walked back into the elevator they came from.

After another exhilarating elevator ride, the three found themselves back on the hanger deck. As the doors opened a loud klaxon rang out through the entire hanger. Sarah was surprised to see that the entire deck was completely unconcerned by it. When the klaxon finally stopped she saw that the same lift that brought their own shuttle down was now heading down again as well, only this time it was carrying a small group of tridents.

Sarah ignored it and began to lead her small party towards the nearest shuttle.

"Is this your bird?" she asked the pilot as she drew close.

The man turned visibly annoyed with being interrupted but his demeanor changed once he saw Sarah's rank.

"Yes ma'am!" he said standing at attention.

"Well this is your lucky day. I and my colleagues here need a lift over to the Belfast. Think you can handle that?"

The man smiled, "well ma'am it seems to be _your_ lucky, I happen to be from the Belfast and I was just prepping to head over there. Give me three minutes and were good for take off."

Sarah thanked the pilot and turned to the two men following her, ready to relay the information when she was suddenly interrupted.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice you are an N7."

Sarah turned to see a middle aged man wearing a flight suit approaching her.

"I am," Sarah answered.

"Good, then maybe you can help me. I was wondering if you knew my son. He was supposed to be at Rio Villa when the reapers attacked."

"Depends," Sarah replied, "who is your son?"

"His name is Alec. Alec Carter."

Sarah's eyes widened. She turned to address her comrade, "Sergeant, front and center."

Alec approached, confused but his confusion was lost upon seeing the man before him.

"Dad?"

The man stepped forward and entered into a fatherly embrace with Alec.

"Jesus, Alec, I feared the worst. When they said that the Villa was nearly destroyed my heart sank," Alec's father's muffled voice said.

"It's alright, I'm alright," answered the son.

After a couple of seconds, Alec pulled away, "and before you ask, Alicia is safe. Last we saw her she was on a shuttle getting the hell out of dodge."

The man let out a rather long breath of relief, allowing a small tear of joy to fall down his face.

"Dad let me introduce Lieutenant Sarah Jade and Gunnery Chief Irving Wolfe. They're good people and damn fine soldiers. You guys, this is my dad, Nathan, or should I say Flight Captain Nathan Carter."

Irving and Sarah greeted Nathan properly this time.

"Alec is being modest," Sarah said, "He's pretty talented himself.

A wave of pride washed over Nathan's face as he glanced at his son. Sarah noticed that if it wasn't for the darker hair, Alec was a spitting image of his old man. With the older man's smile and his natural good looks, Sarah would assume that he must have been quite the ladies man in his day.

"Well, at least he's good at something," Nathan jokingly uttered causing Alec to roll his eyes.

Nathan turned back to Sarah, "so, you guys must be hungry. I hear that the cook is finally making something edible today."

"Actually," Irving interjected, "we have orders to report to the Belfast. The shuttle should be ready."

Nathan's smile fell, "Oh, well I shouldn't keep you then."

He turned back to Alec, "Make sure you keep in touch and tell your sister I said hello."

"Will do pop."

Nathan said his goodbyes and then walked away but not before giving Irving a small look of disproval. Irving either didn't notice or he did and simply didn't care. Either way he turned and walked into the shuttle.

"What's up with him?" asked Alec.

Sarah shook her head even though she could assume what the answer was, "No idea but we should go."

The two boarded the shuttle and within a minute it took off once more and made its way to the Belfast.

**SSV Belfast  
182****nd**** Scout Flotilla  
2186**

It only took nine minutes and forty seconds exactly to reach the Belfast and dock in the hanger. The Cruiser's hanger was paltry compared to the Prince Charles' but it was spacious enough to hold their own shuttle, another shuttle and a mako tank.

Upon arriving they were instructed by the ship's navigator and executive officer, Commander Frey, to head up to the CIC to talk with the ship's captain. Once again they found themselves in another elevator.

"If I never have to see another elevator again in my life I'll die a happy man," Irving had said when they entered the CIC. Like the Prince Charles, the CIC of the Belfast was a buzz with activity. It was even more clustered than the Prince Charles had been and after asking a rather rude Petty Officer where the captain was, they found him standing inside the cockpit.

If there was ever a man to represent the old breed of ship captains, this guy fit the bill perfectly. On his chest were ribbons dating back before Shanxi, Shanxi itself, as well as several different slaver and pirate suppression campaigns such as _Operation Black Eye_, _Operation Gold_, and _Operation Jackrabbit_. The man must have been pushing sixty; his once raven black hair was now barley noticeable behind the grey streaks that now occupied it. His head turned towards the N7s as they approached.

"At ease," the captain said, allowing the three special forces soldiers to stand at parade rest, "Welcome to the Belfast, I am Captain Loren," the officer greeted with his rough and thick French accent, "I have no idea what you people have endured to get to this point but for now you are safe. At this moment we are preparing to head to a small colony in the Attican Traverse. As of now the reapers have not assaulted the colony but according to intelligence it would seem that they are en-route."

"In forty five minutes a briefing will commence in the war room, although when such a time arrives it will be announced. For now, Corporal Newman will take you to the barracks. Take whatever bunk is open."

The captain dismissed them and Newman motioned for the three to follow him. After yet another elevator ride, to which Sarah was grateful that Irving was being on his best behavior, they arrived at the crew deck.

Newman led them down a small hallway that was interspaced by the many crew quarters until they came upon an empty one.

"The previous owners aren't coming back so this one is yours."

The room wasn't all that big. There was enough room to hold four footlockers and two bunk beds. To Irving it felt like he was seventeen again, walking into one of the many jail cells that occupied the police station near his home on Terra Nova.

Irving had been on several ships before. He and the rest of Sabre Team had been attached to the Alliance Frigate, the SSV Waterloo, throughout the entirety of the Eden Prime Wars. As such they whole thing wasn't exactly new to him. But he would say that he never really enjoyed the experience. Being a soldier he would rather be down in the thick of the fighting rather than serve on some comfy ship. And if the ship was ever destroyed, the resulting death would be immediate and inevitable. At least on the ground he could guess where death would come from and act accordingly. On a ship, all it would take is a single shot from a reaper and good bye Dorothy.

"There's a washroom down the hall and to the left. I'll have the quartermaster send some fresh clothing and bedding as soon as he's able to."

With that Newman left. Alec and Sarah glanced at each other, then at the beds, then at each other again.

"Top bunk!" they said in unison.

Despite everything, watching as Sarah and Alec darted towards the two top bunks like a couple of kids at summer camp brought a smile to Irving's face. Eventually the two entered into a playful wrestling match, to which, what Alec would later claim, Sarah cheated by using her biotics.

Eventually, Sarah made Alec call uncle and the two separated.

Slowly the three of them began to shed off their armor. It was only then that Sarah noticed something on Irving's forearm.

"What's that?"

Irving rolled up the sleeve on his undersuit and showed them a tattoo of a snake coiling around his arm and down to his wrist.

"When did you get that?"

Irving shrugged, "Back in the 99th. My squad used to jest that I had the fastest quick draw in the entire garrison. We went out on leave on day and they convinced me to get this."

"But why a snake?" asked Alec.

"Have you ever seen how fast a cobra strikes? Well I'm faster."

Sarah playfully scoffed, "getting a little big for your britches there gunny?"

Irving smirked, "ain't a boast if it's true ma'am."

Soon the quartermaster arrived with spare clothing and bedding. Sarah and Alec quickly changed into their new outfits but Irving neglected to. Instead he had taken off only his shoulder pads, arm guards and his chest plate, calling it a day. All that remained were his legging and the all black undersuit with an N7 logo patched on the right breast. When asked why he simply shrugged, denying them an answer.

Eventually, Loren ordered the entire crew to assemble in the war room for a briefing. The three took off towards it without hesitation.

XxxxxX

When they approached the war room, they saw that it was already filled to the brim with personnel. Everyone assembled found themselves standing shoulder to shoulder with the person next to them. Everyone seemed to be talking over everyone else, making in damn near impossible to hear one's own thoughts.

As they walked in, Alec was immediately blindsided by a bear hug from Alicia. Relief washed over both their features.

"Alicia, thank god you are alright."

"I'm fine, you needn't worry. I'm just glad you are okay."

Alec pulled away, "I saw dad."

"What? Where?"

"He was on the Prince Charles. He was fine. You should call him when you get the chance."

Right on cue, Irving interrupted the happy family moment.

"Not to be _that guy_ but we should find somewhere to sit while we can."

The four of them made their way through the crowd until finding three empty seats. Scowling, Irving allowed the others to sit while he took up a standing position not too far away.

When the lights dimmed slightly, the entire room slowly got quiet. Commander Frey entered shortly afterward, "Ten-Hut! Officer on deck!"

As one the entire ensemble got to their feet –if they were seated- and stood at attention.

Everyone remained that way until Captain Loren himself arrived.

"At ease," the captain said, "welcome everyone, I appreciate you all be on time. That goes double for you, Sergeant Parks," the captain said signaling out a marine causing the ones around him to chuckle.

"This briefing is hereby begun. As I'm sure you all know Earth has been attacked. What you don't know is who is behind it."

The lights dimmed as the Captain entered a series of commands on a holo-projector. A familiar sight of a reaper came into full view of everyone.

"This is a reaper. Everyone must recognize it as the ship that attacked the citadel back in '83. What we thought was a ship of geth design turns out to be much more than we feared. The reapers are real and they are on the march."

The image changed to the galaxy map.

"Two weeks ago, batarian space went dark. Nothing was coming in or out of the Kite's Nest. That was until an armada of Batarian refugees suddenly appeared on our doorstep. They were turned away, naturally. HighCom believed it to be a ruse in preparation of an imminent Batarian invasion. That was until, one by one; colonies in the Traverse began to go dark. Any recon units sent to investigate did not return."

The view switched once more to a blown up view of earth.

"We didn't realize we were under attack until the reapers began to assault Earth herself. Despite having Second, Third and Fifth fleets assembled, the reapers proved too much. The whole of the Second Fleet was obliterated, allowing the third and fifth to retreat."

The holo-projector powered down and the lights returned to normal.

"I will be now accepting any questions you may have."

At once, every hand shot up into the air.

Loren picked one out, "Sir, what are our standing orders as of now?"

"Right now the 182nd scout flotilla will be dropping any civilians we have off at the citadel. Then we are to proceed to the colony of New Hartford to help in the evacuation of the colony. The reapers haven't attacked yet but we know that they will be in the near future."

"Sir, you said that the entire Second Fleet was destroyed?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"How many reapers did we take out?"

"None as of now."

"When are we going back to Earth?"

"I understand that many of you may have families on earth but unfortunately we have orders that strictly prohibit any approach. The Charon relay is similarly being denied access. Right now there is going to be a summit to discuss who will be assisting with the war effort and how the war will be conducted. All you need to concern yourselves with is that we will return.

"Who is in command of the military sir?" asked Wolfe.

"Fleet Admiral Hackett has taken command. We are to follow his instructions as if they were the will of god himself. Any more questions?"

When no one had anything else to say Loren nodded.

"Then that's it. Contents of this briefing will be sent to your omni-tools as well as a data packet containing any and all intel based on the reapers themselves. You are all dismissed."

Slowly the assembled group filed out of the war room, each in a state of deep reflection. With the big secret of the reapers finally unveiled, the Alliance began to prepare for war.

**END OF PART ONE**

_**Author's Note  
So this will definitively be the last chapter of Part One. The next Part will be what happens now that Alec, Sarah, and Irving are on the Belfast.**_

_**By the way, I suck at aerial battles. That entire section is up for a rewrite possibly but that is until I get around to doing so. Have no fear, I will mention it when it happens so don't worry your pretty heads about nothing. Ole Blackbox will take care of you.**_


End file.
